My Life, My Way
by Shockra
Summary: My first fanfic, so be nice! Selina is growing weary of her life style and wants a change. She doesn't know what to do about it though, can her mysterious dark knight help her! I know horrible summary, hopefully the stories better Batman/Catwoman pair
1. Prologue

Thanks Agent-G, I know its a bit AU i was going to put that in my header but I'm a bit of a space case sometimes...so to new readers, like i just said its a bit AU so take that into consideration.

Disclaimer: I in no way own this original story of batman or its character, I just here to play with them XD

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Prologue

My name is Selina, well that's the name I was born with anyways. So, here I stand on top of one the tallest buildings in Gotham City in a leather cat outfit, cornered by a fine-looking man in a leather bat suit. And no it's not Halloween; actually it's my night time hobby. And the bat is a party crasher, albeit a handsome and VERY appealing party crasher. I could almost lick those fulminous lips. But I have been a very naughty kitty and he means to put an end to my fun.

I have always been...difficult, even as a child I was always getting into things that I shouldn't. My parents were...ordinary, there was nothing special about them. My dad was a handyman; he went around the neighbourhood fixing things here and there earning a little cash. Then there was my mother, she worked two jobs, a cashier during the day and cleaned buildings by night. They were great people, loving and patient despite my reckless behaviour. But one night, while I was sleeping at a friend's house when I was ten, my parents were caught in the middle of a gang war and were gunned down as they tried to take cover. The cops couldn't figure out who killed them, nor did they care. We lived in the low end of the city that sort of thing happened all the time.

Unfortunately for me, I had no relatives nearby so they shipped me off to some foster home. I hated it there, I felt trapped and suffocated. These people had four other kids all around my age. But they were animal haters, something I was definitely not. I loved my animals, especially cats. I wished I could be a cat; they are so care free and independent, they do what they want when they want and they don't listen to just anybody. In the months after my parent's death, the cats in the alley behind my foster parents home were the only real family that I felt I had and they were the only things that gave me comfort.

Five months after my parents died I met my uncle for the first time. Uncle Sly, what a sweet and wonderful man. He was my father's older brother. To the rest of the world he was Doctor Sylvester Kyle, the Zoologist majoring in the study of large cats in the wild. He had returned to Gotham City from Africa just for me. When he first heard the news of his brother's death, he took the first flight he could find and flew to Gotham to get me, or that's what he had told me. But you know men; they aren't always very truthful in such matters. Anyways, he took me away from that awful family. I felt a little guilty leaving my cats though, but Uncle Sly told me that cats are survivors they always land of their feet. So I waved good bye to my cats, promised I would return one day, and was whisked off to Africa to help my uncle in his research.

He taught me a great many things, not just about those precious cats but the different cultures that surrounded us. But I also learned about the great injustices that occurred on daily basis too, not just the lion's of Africa but cats and people all around the world. After a year we left Africa had a quick stint back in the states but were quickly whisked off to another country to study other cats.

As I got older, I got angrier at the injustices that were happening to these poor defenceless cats. Men were hunting them for the pure pleasure of it. The local governments weren't doing anything about it and it seemed no matter what my uncle and I did, nothing helped. So finally I decided to take things into my own hands. The forests had become my play ground; I knew them inside and out. And the predator's who lived in the jungle left me alone; I seemed connected to it and them somehow. Especially the cats, I could walk up to any wild cat and pet them and treat them like they were a house cat. They would come up purring and would rub their faces against me. So I used these advantages and decided to hunt the hunters.

I was sixteen when I first donned a cat mask. But I did so to scare the hunters, to take advantage of their superstitions. I was young and very athletic and those hunters had no idea what hit them. After the first successful night I found myself going out again and again, until I couldn't stop. Even after we up rooted again and moved somewhere else I couldn't stop, leaving a wake of frightened and confused hunters.

A few years later, my uncle got brain cancer. The University couldn't put out enough money to pay for his medical bills and wouldn't pay for him to return, all because his contract ran out. At first I tried working in honest jobs all across northern Russia, where we had been studying the tigers. Eventually I had made enough money to get him to a big city hospital. But it seemed no matter how hard I worked it was never enough.

Then one day I was browsing through a local newspaper when I saw the most beautiful thing, a golden cat statue on display at the local Museum. At first I laughed at a notion that popped in my head. Stealing a priceless artefact, it would be impossible to steal! But then out of curiosity's sake I went to a library and tried to find the museums layout and you know what, not only did I find the floor plans but all the security information I needed, the wonders of the internet.

Only a crazy person would attempt to steal that precious golden kitty. I surely wasn't crazy but I was desperate. And many would say taking on poachers single handed was crazy too, and I had done that just fine. So after wrestling with my conscious (which really wasn't all that hard), I decided that the museum didn't need that precious kitty anymore. I told myself that all the money that I didn't use would go towards legitimate charities.

So it was I made my plans. I checked and re-checked my plans to make sure everything was perfect. I only need a few homemade tools with me to get the job done, what I needed most was my athletic abilities and my catlike flexibility.

On the night of my first heist, everything went puurrrfect maybe a little too perfect. I got my cat, fenced it for some big time cash, covered all my uncle's medical bills until he died six months later, and gave the rest to charity like I promised myself. At the time, though I didn't realize it, but that was the moment that my whole world changed I'd like to think for the better but many might tend to disagree.

That leads me now to my current situation, with a rather handsome and familiar man dressed as a bat.

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This is just the beginning so, rate please I wouldn't mind knowing if i suck or not...i can take it really i can! Oh and point out my grammar errors...i'm good at noticing others but not my own...anywhoo


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I in no way own nor am I the creator of theoriginal characters of Batman and its involved characters

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Chapter 1

Needless to say, I've lived a rather interesting life. And the man in front of me is a part of that. He calls himself Batman. I met him about seven years ago. He caught me stealing from some rich dead beat with lots of money to spare. I only wonted to spread the wealth. But lucky for me, not only did I get away; I managed to steal a priceless diamond necklace. Batman is Gotham's Dark Knight, essentially he is a vigilante. He operates outside the law. But yet has a strong code of ethics that makes the GCPD trust him and accept him. Occasionally they'll even work side by side with each him.

Quite frankly I don't resent his existence, most of the time. Even though he got me thrown in prison, I still admire him. He's turned a city that was literally rotting from the inside, full of corruption and evil, and turned it into a reasonably safe place.

Still, Gotham is far from perfect. On any given day we have some of the worse psychopaths in the world trying to destroy the Bat, and regain control of the city. Sometimes they get close too. But me I'm not like that. I may run around in a cat suit and steal from people, but I'm far from the psycho's like the Joker, Penguin or the Scarecrow. I NEVER hurt innocent people. All my crimes are relatively innocent in comparison. Only a stolen emerald here, and a priceless artefact there.

Which brings me to my present situation: just a couple moments ago I was having a tiny celebration at a near impossible heist that I completed. This place had it all. Laser sensors coming out of their yin yang, motion detectors, pressure sensors and heat sensors. I had gone undetected by any of them, but just as I was about to scram, the Bat shows up and ruin's my parade.

"Give it up Catwoman, you're cornered with no where's to go."

After all these years, he really thinks I'll be a good kitty and just give up what I worked so hard to get? Really! But he's a man, a man very much so attracted to me just as I am to him. But unlike him I can see straight through that attraction. Batman's vision call get a little...blurred at times, though never blinded. It's one of the reasons why I am so attracted to him.

So I slink up to him slowly swinging my hip sexily, with every step and look him up and down with smouldering eyes. He looks relaxed and ready to fight, but I can sense an immediate reaction. I reach out and touch my palm to his chest and can feel his muscles tighten at my touch; he's working real hard to control himself.

"Mmm, we don't have to fight now do we, handsome? Can't you forget all of this? It's not like I'm harming anyone!"

"But you are still breaking the law now give it to me!" His voice sounds very serious, and I know he is but it's so fun to toy with him!

"Give you what?" I give him the most innocent face I can make, but he doesn't react so I press myself against him. Instantly he responds again, even more strongly this time.

He closes his eyes for a second, trying to focus himself but I can't let him. So I reach up and pull his head towards me and I kiss him...more passionately then I intend. At first he resists, but after a moment he wraps his strong arms around me. I feel his heat rush through me like a dam busting open. I quickly lose control of myself and press myself hard into his scorching body. One of his hands slides down along my back and he grabs my buttock sending a shiver down my spine. Then something refocuses my intoxicated mind.

Then I feel Miss Kitty rub against my legs, so I discreetly I drop the necklace around her neck and she takes off for home. Now that the "money" was safe it is time to get this kitty cat home without taking a detour. But first, I'm gonna enjoy myself.

Unfortunately he regains enough wits to pull back and pushes me away. Feeling disappointed I make a pouty face, then quickly smile and run for the ledge.

For a moment he stood there struck dumb, can you imagine! Batman was just standing there in a haze. But it didn't last long, and he takes off after me. But I got enough of a lead that I manage to lose him. Sometimes I think he lets me get away, like tonight! That was too easy!

After making sure that no one was following, Selina slowly made her way home. As she stepped into her apartment, Isis came to greet her mewing happily with the necklace still around her neck. Selina smiled down at her precious partner in crime then bent over and rubbed her underneath the chin.

"Thanks for the path back to sanity precious. I guess I got a little carried away, but it got us our prize didn't it! Now I think it's time for a shower!"

Selina plucked the necklace from around Isis' neck and stashed it in her hiding place in the floor boards. Letting out a sigh she peels off her Catwoman suit and walks towards the shower. She lets out another gratified sigh as she steps into the shower. The steaming water runs down her body, washing away the sweat and grim of the streets. But along with the grim, the scent of the Batman washes away too.

She lets out another sigh at the thought of him. This was the first time she had lost control of her senses, but it was so worth it. She could still feel his warmth, smell his masculine smell and feel his strong firm touch. And like always his kiss, was exemplary. But it left her feeling something she had never really felt before, a strong unyielding longing for that incredible man. This time he had touched her very soul.

All their meetings had always been...hot, but she could always put him in the back of my mind after a couple hours. Now, the images kept on flashing through her mind, she couldn't forget. She wasn't sure she wanted to forget; she liked the feeling at first. But then it reminded her of how lonely she really was.

She wonders if Batman felt the same way too, or did he have someone to go home too? No she doubted it, he was lonely too. He longed for companionship too. As she had gotten older, this feeling of loneliness had steadily gotten stronger.

At first she had just pushed it aside and forced herself to forget. But it was steadily getting stronger and harder to forget, like tonight. She had never really fallen in love with anyone before, she had come to think that, that kind of love was just an illusion.

She had dated many men, and toyed with many more. But she never felt anything for them; they were merely an amusement to her nothing more. She was unwilling to bend her beliefs and stop being herself to gain the affections of a man. Most men couldn't handle her independent personality, except maybe Bruce Wayne. He was very attracted to her, but like all the others the feelings weren't mutual. Still she did like the man, even though she didn't want to pursue a relationship with him, he still wanted to be her friend.

They had been very good friends, she actually began to like him. He sincerely cared about the charities he invested in. He even invested in the charities she believed in. Isis loved him and she didn't like too many people, which suggested that he was truly a good man. He had even posted her bail, and had given her a chance at a normal life. She had tried at first, but it wasn't her.

After she committed another crime, she hadn't figured he'd want to talk to her after betraying his trust. She actually felt bad betraying Bruce. But there was nothing she could do now. That had been five years ago.

Selina rubbed her head. She was getting a headache thinking such depressing thoughts. She quickly finished up her shower and got herself dressed in a comfortable pair of . She walked over to where she had stashed the necklace in the floor boards. She had a small vault tucked in there, with her most important and most discriminating materials.

She opened the small vault and pulled out a folder then tucked her Catwoman outfit in it and put the vault back in the floor. In this folder she had a list of people who would buy her loot, as well as suppliers for some of her trinkets she used to break into these high end buildings. She also had names of informants in this file, people who got her floor plans, security specs and many other interesting tidbits. Information wasn't as easily come by these days as they used to be.

But at the moment her interest was in selling that pretty little gem, so she could pay off a certain debt that would skin this cat if they didn't get their money back. Selina hated mafia, but sometimes she had no choice but to do dealings with them.

Selina set the folder down on the coffee table and got herself a cup of milk and sat down and started browsing through the names on the list. There was only one person on that list that would buy this necklace off of her, but she really didn't want to visit HIM. Another mobster named Charlie Thorn, Rupert Thorn youngest nephew. He was reasonably new in the field so she could manipulate him pretty easily, but the kid unsettled her.

She didn't know what it was but the kid didn't seem too mentally stable. But she had no choice; she must do it tomorrow night. Hopefully Batman won't be watching the place, which would be no fun. But he could find her after she paid back Thorns rival gang the Gaseti's. But the first thing she had to do in the morning was find a new apartment fast; she had already been in this apartment too long.

Only a few years ago, she had been living in extravagant penthouses all over the world. Now she was stuck with living in low rental apartment so she didn't attract so much attention. Selina shook her head at a thought that had just dawned on her. In all these years of stealing, she had justified what she was doing as her way of trying to save her precious cats. And maybe it was true at first but now she spends most of it paying off old debts or buying herself new toys to make herself a more effective thief. Was she losing sight of her goal?

Selina shook her head; it was time to get refocused. But she needed to find a way out of her current situations she was finding herself in. But how could she? Well I guess I could not use her informants for a while, nor buy any new toys she thought. Just pay off her debts and pay for her living expenses, then she would have money for her cats again.

Selina sighed she had enough thinking for the day, it was time to sleep. Aaahh, sleep! Suddenly the images of her and Batman flashed in front of her again...it was gonna be a long restless night. She would most definitely be dreaming about him tonight, she wondered if he'd do the same.

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Earlier that night

Batman burned through the streets of Gotham, earlier that night he had scared some interesting information out of a man who he had caught trying to steal information from Star Labs. When he had questioned who he was working for he had given up Catwoman's name. When he asked what she was up to, he told him Catwoman was planning on a heist from a certain billionaire who was living in one of Gotham's most extravagant sky scrapers. By the sound of the plans, Catwoman had bitten off a big piece of meat but yet he had confidence she could do it. She had talent for doing the impossible.

But he had to stop her...but he'd wait to see if she could accomplish the job. He hadn't seen her in a year or so, he heard rumours though that she was in town but hadn't run into her yet. Out of all their encounters over the years, she had only gone to prison once and that was out her own free will. Now with all the crimes she had committed, she would be headed to Arkham this time, not a regular county jail. And she wouldn't willingly go there. Not with Joker and the Penguin there.

Batman slowed down and pulled into a back alley. By now Catwoman was probably eighty stores up making her way through the security system. The Batmobile slowed to a stop, Batman took a deep breath and steeled himself for what he knew would come. It happened every time they encountered each other.

And this time she'll be laying it on thick. Rumour has it that she's in trouble with The Gaseti's, the meanest mob in Gotham. Apparently the payment was due in two days, which made him wonder why she chose such a challenging heist when things were getting crucial for her to pay. But then again she always did like a challenge.

Batman has seen so many things and almost nothing fazed him. He got hit on both as Bruce Wayne and as Batman, none of the women ever got through his tough shell. Except Selina Kyle a.k.a Catwoman, there was something about her that he was so strongly attracted to. No matter how many women he saw, they never made him forget her or her burning kiss.

Batman shook his head; he needed to focus on his current job: stopping Catwoman from stealing...or at least not getting away with stealing anyways. The Batmobile's hatch slid open and Batman vaulted out of his vehicle, the door slid closed behind him. Batman depressed the stealth button on his belt as he look up, then reached around his back and pulled out a bat-grapple and shot it towards the rooftop. With a jolt he flew through the air ascending quickly and reaching the top within seconds. With all the momentum the bat-grapple catapulted him a several feet over the roof top. Using his cape he gently landed on the ground.

Batman strode to edge for the building, and pulled a small pair of binoculars and peered in the windows across the street. After few moments of scanning, he spotted Catwoman carefully plucking a jewelled necklace from its stand. After she freed it from its glass prison, she smiled briefly then turned and made her way through the complicated security web, retrieving several devices that temporarily disabled certain security systems as she went.

Batman watched in awe as she contorted her body in nearly impossible and sometimes provocative ways. Catwoman was proving to be most entertaining to watch, he was learning how she operated too. Batman pulled the binoculars away from his face, realizing his heart was beating much too fast. He inhaled deep composing himself...again, then pulled out another bat-grapple and shot it towards the opposing building.

When he landed on the rooftop, he scanned his surroundings. He was trying to find any possible escape route that Catwoman would take. It didn't take long before her head poked out a rather tight ventilation shaft. Batman stepped back in the shadows, and waited for her to squeeze herself out.

She wriggled back and forth as her shoulder and arms came free, and then with her hands she pulled herself forward grunting a bit as she squeezed her hips through. She stood and pulled out her treasure.

"Meeoow, now that was a thrill and it went absolutely puurrfect!!!" She let a large smile spread across her full lips. Batman stepped out the shadow.

"I'm afraid your victory is short lived Catwoman. Give it up Catwoman you're cornered with no where's to go."

Batman stood his ground using a loose defensive pose, as she slinks towards him swinging her hips with every step. He could feel her eyes looking him up and down full of lust and desire. Batman tries to blank his mind, trying to force out the sensual images that were coming into his mind. Man, he hated what this woman did to him. Then she reaches out a presses her palm to her chest, his whole body reacts despite his attempt to control himself.

"Mmm, we don't have to fight now do we, handsome? Can't you forget all of this? It's not like I'm harming anyone!"

"But you are still breaking the law, now give it to me!" He tries to sound serious and controlled but he can tell she wasn't buying it. She gives him a pouty look but he ignores it.

"Give you what?" Still he ignores her expression and starts to back up from her smouldering touch, but she takes giant step towards him and presses her body against his sending a lightning bolt of sensation through his body. Why was he reacting so strongly to her this time? He needs to get away from her before he loses complete control.

But then she reached up and pulls his head towards her and kisses him. The fire behind it shocked him, at first he could resist but neither could he react either. In a moment, all will to resist faded away and he wrapped his arms around her in desperate desire. She presses herself even more firmly into him as he feels her lose control as well. He lets his hand slide down her back and grabs her butt in heated desire.

They stood there for long moments basking in each other's touch. Then suddenly Batman grasp's what he's doing and pulls back. She gives him a disappointed look, then smiles wickedly and then runs and jumps over the ledge.

It took a moment for Batman to collect himself, and then realizes she has taken off.

He shakes his head and turns in pursuit. But Catwoman is already gone. He lets out a frustrated grunt as he heads back to his car. Now he has to recover the item Catwoman has stolen.

He might not be able to find Catwoman, but he had a good chance of finding the person who would buy her stolen necklace. There weren't too many brave enough, or stupid enough, too buy such an item. It was too identifiable, anyone who saw it would know what it was. By night's end the whole state would know that it had been stolen.

But yet Catwoman wouldn't sell it tonight, she'd wait until tomorrow night. This item would only be bought by someone who considered themselves a collector of unique and valuable items, but they had to be local it'd be too hard to move it anywhere's outside the city. That narrowed his list quite a lot.

Batman pushed a few buttons as he sat down in the Batmobile, "Alfred, search for any possible buyers for Cleopatra's Pendent."

"Right a ways sir."

"I'm on my way home."

"Didn't reach the building in time sir?"

"I did, but there were...complications. She got away."

"Ah, that kind of problem!"

"What is that suppose mean?"

"Don't play coy, with me! I know how you get around her. What is the saying? 'The heart grows fonder with time?' That aside sir, your list will be waiting for you when you return home."

"Thank you Alfred, I'll be right there."

"Very good sir!"

Batman hit the disconnect button, and started the Batmobile and peeled out of the alley.

All the way home, Batman brooded. How could he'd been so easily reeled in and turned into a mindless oaf? She shook her hips a bit, smiled at him and he couldn't move, couldn't think and couldn't react. And when she kissed him, all he wanted to do was bring her to bed with him. He wanted her so badly, even now he could not shake her from his mind.

He's dated and kissed some of the most attractive and beautiful women in the world, no one has ever made him feel this way. If Nightwing gets wind of this he'll never live it down. He knew all about his in-ability to resist Catwoman's charm, he thinks she is just manipulating him…he's probably right. And yet with that knowledge, he still can't resist her.

Slowly Batman brings the Batmobile to a stop. The hatch slides open automatically, and he leaps out of the vehicle. Alfred stepped up to him and hands him a short list of names.

"Here is the list of names you have requested sir. Thankfully there are not many. I am sure you will sort it out in no time."

Batman pushes back his cowl, and scans the list of names. "Thank you, Alfred."

"I think I will call it a night sir. But if I may say so sir; I don't think Miss Kyle is really a villain. Just severely miss guided, but I think that if you offer her some guidance, sir, that she might aid you in your fight against crime."

Bruce cocked an eyebrow, "Is that so Alfred. Now I'm afraid she would not see how helping me would help her."

"Then offer her an incentive, something to motivate her."

"Meaning?"

"Only you could know that sir. I'll be heading off now. Goodnight sir."

Bruce shook his head as he watched his blunt butler, greatest friend and father-figure disappear up the stairs that led to manor. No one dared to talk to him the way Alfred did, not even Dick Grayson or Tim Drake. Nor would he tolerate anyone else talking to him the way Alfred does either. Alfred had long earned his right to be so frank with him.

Sometimes he needed a kick in the ass, and Alfred was always there to do it. He didn't always like what Alfred had to say, but he was very often thankful for him looking out for him.

Bruce let out a sigh, and walked to the Bat-computer. Now he had some work to do. Bruce took another look at the list that Alfred had given him. It was probably one of the shortest lists of suspects he has ever seen. Three names, and only one of them Catwoman would be willing to deal with: Charlie Thorn.

Bruce slipped his cowl back on. Catwoman might not move her trinket tonight, but she will soon. By setting a phone tap he might figure out when she'll arrive instead of tracking the kid all tomorrow night. So he had to go back out, sneak into Charlie Thorn's house (that wouldn't be hard), put phone taps on all the phones in the house and hope she calls instead of dropping in.

Batman sighed, then got up and walked back to the Batmobile and slid back in. It started back up with the familiar roar, and he peeled out of the Batcave.

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So? Better? Tell me what you think, I'd love to here the reviews, once again point out my grammar errors so future readers can understand my jibberish.

Thanks

Shockra


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own batman or catwoman or any of the related characters, but this is my story idea!

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The Following Morning

Selina woke with a start. Her heart was racing quickly in her chest and sweat rolling down her brow. Sometime during the night she had kicked off her blanket and thrown her pillow away. As she had thought, her dreams were filled with HIM.

And these dreams were very vivid, almost as if they had really happened to her. They were extremely erotic. All of them were of her in different sexual situations with Batman. And according to those dreams, he was a VERY good lover. If only she could really find out.

Selina wondered: if she started helping people instead of robbing them, would he be willing to be with her. She wasn't just physically attracted to the man, who had occupied most of her mind recently, but she had a suspicion that they were very compatible mentally and emotionally as well. When he wanted too, he could manipulate her quick as well.

They seemed to understand each other remarkably well. He always knew how to find her. Which probably meant he already knew that she was going to contact Charlie, but that didn't seem to matter. Maybe she wanted him to catch her, make her stop stealing.

But getting caught meant he'd send her to Arkham, and that's the last place she wanted to be. And after they let her out, then what? She would have to live working a minimum wage job!? She had tried when she was younger, and she hated it. Maybe Bruce Wayne would get her a job she could live with.

Whether or not she thought Batman would crash her meeting with Charlie, she still had to go. She needed the money; she needed to pay off the Gaseti's. But first things first: she needs to find a new apartment.

Selina slid out of bed and made her way to the shower. When she finished, she got dressed and headed out the door. First thing she did; was go to the nearest coffee shop and bought a paper and sat down with a hot cup of coffee.

On the front page of the paper it read: Cleopatra's Pendent Stolen, Catwoman Prime Suspect. She smiled to herself and thought, 'No kidding!' She didn't care what it had to say about her, it would be all negative anyways. So she flipped to the classifieds and started skimming the ads for a new apartment.

There wasn't much in her price range, the cheap apartments were usually all taken. Gotham had too many poor people and not enough cheap housing for them to live in. That was why so many people lived in the streets.

Not finding anything, she started flipping through the pages of the other sections of the paper. After a couple moments of flipping she stopped at a picture of Bruce Wayne. He looked just as handsome as she remembered; too bad he didn't have a more enticing personality.

He, like every other man, was very interested in her. But that wasn't anything new for him. He was a playboy what do you expect? But he did seem to go the extra mile for her. She actually kind of missed talking to him. But she doubted she'd ever talk to the man again, he would tarnish his good name associating with a criminal.

Selina shook the thought out of her head. Now wasn't the time for reminiscing; she needed to contact Charlie and set up an appointment for tonight. She got up and threw her garbage in the trash and left the paper and went back to her apartment. She'd have to hit the pavement to find a new apartment.

As she walked into her apartment, she threw her purse on the ratty old couch and grabbed the phone. She punched in the numbers for Charlie and let it ring. After a couple of rings, a deep masculine voice answered:

"Hello?" he said.

"Hi, can I speak with Charlie?" said Selina in a sweet voice.

"Who's this?" he demanded.

"A certain feline associate of his, he'll know who I am."

Selina sat in between a bunch of cats that had been milling on the couch. Every day she seemed to have more cats. And whenever she moved, they always seemed find her somehow. Isis was the only one she had paid for; she had been too rare to pass up. The rest were strays, or abandoned cats, she was happy to provide from them when she could. Selina refocused on the voice on the phone.

"We'll see about that kitten, just hold on a sec." For a couple moments the line went silent. Finally another voice came on the line, a voice barely considered masculine almost feminine, Charlie's voice.

"Ah, well if it isn't Catwoman! What can I do for you beautiful?"

"Hello Charlie, have you read the paper today?"Asked Selina in the most seductive voice she could make.

"Yes I most certainly did, is that what this business is about?"

"Yes Charlie, when I heard some rich Gothamite had purchased that precious necklace, I thought of you Charlie. I know how much you love those kinds of items, so I went and got it for you. Do you want it?" she purred.

"Maybe...for the right price. How much did you want for it beautiful?"

"Twenty million."

"Twelve."

"Eighteen million. Don't try to rip me off Charlie."

"Fourteen, I'm not."

"Seventeen and that's my final offer. Take it or leave it."

"…fine, seventeen it is. Meet me at warehouse number four by the docks at midnight, that's where we'll make the exchange."

"Mm, Puurrfect. You bring the cash and bring I'll Cleo. See you tonight, gotta go bye!"

She wouldn't make any profit this time around. Selina shivered, she hated that boy. She almost hoped Batman would be there, and then she wouldn't be stuck by herself with those goons. But that's what she got for dealing with the mob. Once she was finished with this, no more dealings with the mob. Things just got too complicated.

Selina sighed; her life had gotten too complicated she was beginning to think that she was in need of a change in pace. If she was going to switch sides, or quit all together, she had to want it and do it for herself and no one else.

She couldn't decide quite yet, it was too recent of a thought. It was probably brought on by her need to be with Batman. Once she got him out of her system, she might not think the same. First she would deal with her current situation then, take a pause and reflect on what she wanted to do with her life now.

Maybe she'd go back to the jungle and start protecting the wild cats again. At the same time she had grown fond of Gotham, even with its flaws, it had become her home again.

Selina rose to her feet, it was time to hit the pavement and find herself a new apartment. She grabbed her purse and headed out the door, locking it behind her.

That Night

The day had been fruitless; I couldn't find an apartment within my price range. All of the ones that were available were too high for me to afford. I hate the feeling of being helpless and poor. If I didn't have to give that hard earned money away, I would've gotten myself at least a decent apartment. But it wasn't meant to be.

So now here I sit, brooding, hoping nothing will go wrong and I can get my money and pay off those stupid mobsters and move on with my life. So I sigh for the umpteenth time, and make my way down to the meeting site at warehouse number four.

From the shadows, I watched Charlie Thorn and his goons make a perimeter around the warehouse. They thought they could detect me before I entered the perimeter, fat chance of that. No one was better than me at sneaking around, except maybe Batman...mm now there was a delicious thought. But that would have to wait until later.

I make my way to the far side of the warehouse, look around a tall stack of boxes; Charlie's lackey is looking the other way so I quickly slink up the stack. I take a quick look around inside, there's a guard but he's not near enough to notice me. So I pick the lock and slip in without even raising the guard's suspicion.

I quickly unravel my whip from around my waist, and snap it at the nearest rafter and climb up it. From up here I can move around undetected and feel out the place and figure out the risk of dropping in on these boys. In the underworld you can never be too safe about anything, even if you're just selling goods. Your buyer could double cross you, and the mob was well known for doing just that. Especially if they find out that you're gonna use their money to pay off another mob boss.

Charlie wasn't exactly the smartest chicken in the coop, but his uncle had his moments and Rupert always had his ear to the ground. And I really don't want to be putting myself in that situation. It wouldn't be the first time though.

I survey the interior of the Warehouse; once again my research pays off. The floor plan was correct, therefore I now have a good idea were the rest of the guards will be positioned. And there the man himself stands, talking into his 2-way radio no doubt getting reports from his guards. I study the immediate area around Charlie only two guards within earshot, guarding the only frontal entrances.

Like I thought, this part was going to be easy; it was the Bat who was going to be the problem. I snap my whip at another beam and silently swing down and take out the first guard without being detected. Slowly I slid along the stack of boxes serving as wall, and peep around the corner at the other guard. This one was a veteran; he didn't just stand there and stare in one direction. His eyes constantly swept back and forth, looking for anything looking remotely odd.

I smile to myself; apparently Charlie isn't feeling too safe today. I wonder who he's more worried about, me or the Bat. Slowly I slink along the boxes as the guard slowly looks in the other direction. When I am near enough, I hit him hard on the side of the head; effectively knocking him out.

Slowly I look around the corner to the middle of the little cubicle created by the stack of boxes and see Charlie still talking into his radio. He hadn't heard a thing and was clueless to me being anywhere's near him.

Charlie's back is to me, so I walk into the light and waited for him to take notice of me. But he doesn't. If he hadn't been holding on to the briefcase carrying my money was in I would've just swiped it and took off with it. But he would know it was me, and he'd come after me and I have enough problems to deal with right now.

I clear my throat, "Hey there, is that for me?" Charlie jumps a bit, and whirls around to face me.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in, where are my guards?" Charlie glanced over his should to see the door way empty.

"They're taking a nap. They might wake up with some headache's tomorrow. Let's get this done with before the Bat decides to show up."

"Don't worry about the Bat; he's a little occupied on the other side of the city right now. Did you bring it?"

"Only, if you brought the cash!" Suddenly something feels out of place, something feels wrong. Did I miss something? No, no one saw me come in so it couldn't his guards.

"Of course beautiful, now show me the necklace and I'll give you the cash." He smiles at me trying to make himself seem sexy, only succeeding at making me want to vomit.

I unhooked the bag with the necklace from my belt and pulled it out. "Now show me the cash Charlie."

"What you don't trust me, Sugar."

"Do you trust me?"

"Fair enough." Charlie knelt down, placing the suitcase on the floor and opened the case and turned it towards me so I could see the money. I grabbed a bundle from case and looked it over. It was real. I smile at the man across from me.

"Deal." I close the case and grab it at the same time as I hand the jewel over to Charlie. "Pleasure doing business with you Charlie; now it's time for me to make my leave."

"Not so fast" says a female voice over head. I recognize that voice; it's one of the Bat-brats! I look up, at the rafter and glare at Batgirl as she glares down at me and Charlie.

"Guards to me, Batgirl has shown up!" yells Charlie into his radio, only to have it smashed by a Batarang seconds later. I turn to take off towards the nearest exit but the Bat blocks my path.

"Going somewhere?" Oooh, he sounds mad. Maybe a little sour about me taking advantage of him last night. I quickly do a back flip in the opposite direction as the

Bat tries to grab for me. But Charlie opens fire on him making Batman jump behind a crate as a bullet grazes his arm.

I don't turn back, as I hear a clang as another Batarang knocks the gun from Charlie's hand.

"After her Batgirl, I'll handle Charlie and his goons."

Aww, I wanted another moment with him. I had more of a chance to get away from Batman. I can't seduce Batgirl, and I doubt she would believe the 'I need the money' line, whether it was true or not.

I quickly turn the corner, and see the door within view. Suddenly, Batgirl rains on my parade as she jumps into my path. And to my luck, the mob finally became useful to me as they open fire on the hot headed red head. I snap out my whip around and swing up to the rafters and make for the nearest window.

At this point I don't care how much noise I make, I just want to bust out of here. As I reach the window, I jump through it, shattering the glass. I pull myself into a ball as I hit the ground and roll back to my feet and don't even miss a beat as I start running.

I take a quick look around, there were no guards around. Slowly there was becoming less and less gunfire. Soon they would be on my heels. Suddenly I spot Charlie's BMW parked not far away, well it wasn't going to be Charlie's much longer.

I take off towards the car, but then suddenly the Bat lands on top of it and stares straight at me. So I swerve and take a different direction, this area was too open there was no where's for me to hide!

Suddenly something wraps around my ankle and I fall on my arms, I look at my leg and see a bat-grapple wrapped around it. I swipe at it with my claws, cutting the rope but it already too late. The Bat-brat grabs my arms, and pulls them behind me before I can take off again.

Slowly the Batman walks over to me, cape hanging over his shoulders hiding his perfect body beneath it. I love it when he's being mysterious.

***

I let out a sigh, now glad that I had brought Batgirl along; she would make sure I kept my head in the game. The phone taps had worked, it had told me when and where Catwoman and Charlie Thorn were going to meet.

I have already retrieved the stolen goods, and Charlie was going to jail...for a little while. He wouldn't be there long, receiving stolen goods wasn't a serious enough of a crime to keep him there long. And despite the fact that I knew that Charlie had been the source of many criminal activity lately, I have no way of proving it and the courts needed proof not gut feelings.

Unlike Charlie, Catwoman would spend considerably more time in jail....if they could get her there. And unlike last time, which they had just thrown her into a regular prison, she had robbed enough that she was going to go to Arkham.

She didn't deserve Arkham, even after all she's done. Arkham was for the psycho's like Joker and his like. The murderer's and rapists', Catwoman was nothing like them. She never hurt the innocent. But once again it wasn't up to my 'feelings'.

"Going some where's?" For once she doesn't smile at me; she stares as if she was thinking of something.

Finally she says, "I know you won't believe me Batman, but I need that money!"

Batgirl chuckled behind her, "I doubt that." Catwoman squirmed a bit against Batgirl's grip.

"Do what everybody else does, get a job!"

Catwoman scowled back at Batgirl, "You wouldn't understand."

For the moment I just stood there, trying to read Catwoman. She wasn't about to beg, but then she never would, she was too proud. Catwoman turned her head and looked me straight in the eye. I let out a quiet sigh.

"I'm not going to let you get away with your crimes. And whether you like it or not, you have to go to Arkham. If you behave, you won't be there long." I walk towards her and she tries to squirm hard against Batgirl's grip and manages to wretch one arm free, but I grab her and slap on a specialty pair of cuffs that not even she can break out of.

"And don't worry about the Gaseti's, they won't bother you. I'll make sure of it."

She looks at me a little surprised, and then shook her head. "Of course you know about that, you know everything that goes on in this city."

Slowly in the distance, I could hear the shrill sound of police sirens approaching. I looked at Catwoman again, still holding on to her arm. Then I look at Batgirl and say, "I'm not going to let them take her in like a common criminal, I'll take her in myself. Take a thorough patrol of the Eastside, the night is still young."

"But Batman, I don't think that's such...."

"Go."

"She's just gonna...."

"Go!" I growl out at Batgirl.

Catwoman let a smile reach her lips despite her situation, "Yes little girl, fly away and let the adults play." I strengthen my grip on her arm making wince.

Slowly and reluctantly Batgirl turns and walks toward her motor bike hidden behind some boxes. Then I reach into my belt and pull out a tiny remote and deactivate my cloaking device on the Batmobile and call it to me. A couple of moments later it comes to a screeching halt in front of Catwoman and me.

"Nice wheels, I can see that you've upgraded. Can I drive?"

I can't help but smirk a bit. Nothing seems faze this woman, no doubt she was working out an escape plan. I depress another button and the hatch slides open. I walk Catwoman to the passenger side and turn on all security features so that she can't somehow tamer with anything, even though her hands were encased.

I pick her up and gently place her in the passenger seat and buckle her in. She smiles at me again, this time trying to be more seductive...and unfortunately it affects me.

"Safety first? Well, with the way you drive that probably is a good idea!"

"There is nothing wrong with my driving."

"Ou, did I unwittingly strike a cord? But I suppose all men think they are great drivers, but I suppose in your case it's actually true!"

I let out at hmph, and walk around to my side and jump in and close the hatch. I ignite my engines and peel off towards Arkham. Suddenly, the air around Catwoman changes. She says nothing as several minutes pass; she just stares out the window at the passing scenery. Then she turns her head and stares at me with a look that I have never seen on her beautiful face before.

"Have you ever regretted choosing the path that your life is on?"

I look at her puzzled at why she would ask such a thing. I don't think we have ever had a serious conversation in the time that I have known her, both as Batman and Bruce Wayne alike.

"No, never...it's all been worth it. All the people I've saved over the years, they made it worth it."

"But what about those close to you? Surely there's somebody or something that drives you to do what you do. There's a reason, there has to be."

Why was she talking like this, she never does. But then again, this was not our typical situation. Oddly enough this was making me more attracted to her. But I could not answer; I was never good with this kind of talk. Just ask Dick.

For several more minutes, it remained silent and for a moment I thought she had given up the conversation. But I was wrong.

"Aren't you gonna ask me why I'm asking you these questions? Or at least tell me to mind my own business."

"No."

She rolled eyes, "A great conversationalist as always."

"Look, if you wanted to talk about something then you would tell me. It's not my place to stick my nose were it doesn't belong."

"You're a strange man you know that! You'd think that since you're supposed to be the 'great detective' that you'd ask a whole lot of questions. But you hardly speak at all."

I stared ahead as she stared at me again. I didn't really know what she expected from me. This was an area I sucked at. I could figure out some of the most messed up people you will ever meet, but when people actually start talking to me I don't know what to say most of the time.

Finally she sighed, giving up like everyone else, and stared out the window again.

"You'd be thrilled if I quit stealing wouldn't you. But I'm not sure I can. Originally I stole to survive and to help the endangered cats, but then things got all twisted and somewhere I think I've lost sight of why I started all this in the first place. It is just what I am now. I can't go back to that brainless way of living."

"You want to make a difference."

"....Yes..."

"Well what you are doing isn't the way either. Even if you stole to help others, you taint those gifts with the lies."

"Well not everyone has the resources you seem to have. And I'm not sure people are really worth saving anymore."

I slam on the brakes and jerk the steering wheel to the left and head towards Crime Alley. I come to a stop in the shadow of a building, the hatch slides open and I leap out. I come around to the passenger side and I unbuckle Catwoman and hoisted her out of the Batmobile.

"Where are we going!?" She demanded.

I reach into my belt and activate the cloaking device once again. I grab her around her waist, and pull her against myself. She tilted her head back and looked into my eyes, I met her look.

"Not that I don't appreciate this current situation: but what are you doing?"

"I'm going to show you, that you're wrong."

"About what?"

"You'll see."

I shoot a Bat grapple towards the roof top, and we zip through the air. Even with the extra weight, the grapple has no problem pulling us to the roof tops.

"Do you know where we are?" I ask her.

"Yes, Crime Alley. A place crawling with filth!"

"Did you know that it wasn't always like this? It was once, not that long ago, a thriving community. Much like the common class communities are now. Then suddenly something changed, and overnight it became what Gotham has come to call Crime Alley."

"Yeah, so? So far you haven't proved me wrong about anything, if anything you have proved me right."

"No, I haven't. You of all people should know to look past appearances. Sure there is a lot of great evil here, but slowly it's getting better. Come."

I lead her to opposite edge of the building and pull out my binoculars and tell her were to look. She puts up her hands, showing me cuffs encasing her hands. I look at her and decide it's worth the risk, so I take the cuffs off. She flexes her hands and then takes the binoculars from my hand and looks to where I had pointed.

"Tell me, what you see." I tell her as she watches the scene before her.

"Lots of children; is it an Orphanage?" She looks at me confused.

"Yes, they are innocent children living in heart of one of the most dangerous areas in Gotham City. Do they deserve to suffer for other people's crimes and mistakes? Right now they are innocent and vulnerable. If no one tries to clean up this place, or even show that they care; then they will become new Rupert Thorn's or even worse new Joker's and Two-face's. Aren't they worth protecting?"

Catwoman said nothing at first then looked me in the face, "You know that I would do anything to protect those children."

"Then why don't you?"

She opened her mouth, as if she was going to protest then looked away in shame: my point had hit home. But I had to press my point further.

"Children aren't the only ones who need protection. What about families, it's devastating for kids to lose their parents or for parents too loose their kids.

Everybody has someone to lose; even criminals. Sometimes you can change people, help them do the right things."

"Not everybody can be saved; you of all people should now THAT."

"Maybe, but I can't stop trying to make a difference. I can't afford to give up on people, and then I become lost."

She looked back up at me, with a sad look in her eyes. "And now you're trying to save me. Why, I can't change who I am."

"Yes you can! I can understand why you can't live like most people do, but if you can't stop climbing roof tops: help people instead of stealing from them. Trust me the rewards are much more satisfying."

She turned away from me, and said nothing. Looked skyward, staring at the moon. After a couple of moments, she turned and started off towards the direction of the Batmobile. I tried to get a sense of what she was thinking, but Catwoman was a hard person to read.

When we reached street level, she still hadn't said anything. She waited patiently as I turned off the cloaking device and climbed into the Batmobile when the hatch had slid open.

I really didn't know what to think. She was always manipulating me, was she doing that now? Or was she being sincere in her interest of actually changing her life. She didn't really say she wanted to stop stealing, just change her reason behind it and do it for a different cause. Maybe my little speech would change that...maybe.

The rest of the trip to Arkham was quiet, and uneventful. The whole time Catwoman stared out the window, watching the scenery roll by. Just as I pulled to a stop in front of Arkham she finally turned and looked at me.

"You know, if I do decide make the decision to change sides; you can't expect me to change overnight. I've lived my life like this longer then you can imagine."

I look at her wondering if she was serious. "I don't and I won't. Change is hard, especially if you've lived your life a certain way for most of your life."

I open the hatch and get out. Catwoman reluctantly gets out and stares up at the bleak fortress. When she noticed me approached, she put out her wrists and waited for me to cuff her. I gently place the cuffs over her delicate wrist, but I still make it tight enough that she can't slip out of them.

"It looks like a nightmare."

I don't respond not knowing what to say, and doubting she wanted to be comforted. Finally she looks at me and gives me a weak smile.

"What are you waiting for handsome? Having second thoughts?"

"I never second guess myself" ...most of the time.

I put my hand on the small of her back and gently push her towards the entrance of the building. As we enter the building I am greeted by two wardens.

"We can take her from here, Batman." Offers the older warden: as he eyes up Catwoman with a lustful look. Catwoman makes as hissing sound as he reaches out to grab her arm.

I put up my hand, "No that's, okay." I push pass the wardens and guided Catwoman in front of me. I pushed her towards an elevator at the end of the hall, I pushed the up button and we waited for the elevator in silence.

As the doors slid closed, she pushed something on her belt with the tip of her cuff and turned around to face me. Without warning she presses herself firmly against me and stands on her tip-toes. She cranes her neck back expecting, this time I know exactly what she wants and for the first time I don't hesitate.

I wrap an arm around her waist and pull her head closer with my free hand. The second our lips touch a flame of passion ripped through me. Steadily the kiss deepened and intensified. After a long moment we reluctantly pulled away as the elevator came to a stop.

By the time the elevator doors had opened, we had both began to regain our wits. She made a quiet gasp as we stepped off the lift. On either side, the walls were lined with cells with fibreglass fronts. Behind the fibreglass: stood some of Gotham's most notorious criminals. They weren't all there but most of them were, most of them took notice as Catwoman and I started down hall. From behind the glass I heard Harley Quinn say: "So the Pussy Cat has finally been caught!"

Despite all the whispering and staring, Catwoman didn't flinch. She kept her head high and pretends like it was a small annoyance. Finally we made it to the head warden's desk.

"Well what do we have here? I believe this is the first time you have graced us with your presence! Catwoman, isn't it? Now there isn't really anything special about you just as long as there are no locks to pick, you should be easy enough to keep in." It was all I could do to not let out a grunt.

"I'm not really planning on trying to escape…for now." She looks blankly at the warden.

"Good, this way if you please Batman." The warden led us back down the line of prison cells. He stopped at an empty prison cell and pressed a button and the door slides aside. I guide Catwoman into the cell, and undo her cuffs. The warden hands her a jump suit to change into.

"Oh lovely! Real fashionable!" She says sarcastically and lets out quiet sigh.

I manage to keep my face passively neutral, but I can't help but feel bad. She really didn't deserve to be kept in Arkham Asylum. I turn and walked away, it is all I can do not to look back as I walk towards the elevator. When I step into the elevator I can see her staring at me with a slightly sad look on her face. The door closes, and she is gone….suddenly I feel so alone.

Mentally I shake myself, and try hard to force her out of my head. When the elevator stops and opens its doors I stride confidently out of the building as though there is nothing wrong, but truthfully something has cracked in my chilled heart and I'm afraid of what it might be and what it might mean.

***

Selina had a shivered when door had slammed shut. She watched as Batman walked away, as if he had better places to be….which he probably did. But when he had turned around in the elevator and looked her square in the eyes, she saw beyond his hard mask she saw that he was second guessing leaving her here…he said he didn't do that…apparently he hadn't just touch her soul, she had touched his.

Now she was peeling off her Catwoman suit, and putting on the scratchy prison jump suit. There wasn't a whole lot in her prison cell. Just a thin hard cot, a toilet with the coarsest toilet-bowl paper she has ever felt with a fibreglass table and chair.

Shortly after she had finished changing, the warden came in and collected her clothes then searched her for any hidden items and left her alone. She had only been here for ten minutes and she wasn't even sure how long she would last willingly. With nothing to do it might drive her crazy. Well she wanted a time out to think, she had definitely got one. But there was such a thing as too much thinking too.

Well at least she had two subjects to occupy her time. One would be more appealing than the other and ultimately lead her to think about the less appealing subject: what she wanted to do with her life. But for now she was too tired to figure that out. So for now all she could do was go to sleep.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!!! Please review, I want to know how i'm doing!!


	4. Chapter 3

Thanks to you all who continue to read my story!!! A special thanks to Starclipper01 for being my first reviewer, I know i'm a couple days late....better late then never XD....and to Dan as well for loving my story!

Disclaimer: I do not own batman or catwoman or it related character and base story line.

* * *

The next morning Selina woke to the sound of someone knocking on hard plastic. It took a moment after she open her eyes to register were she was, Arkham. When she looked towards her door; she saw a tall slender woman, about middle-aged in a lab coat standing there looking in.

"Yes?" Selina asked irritably.

"Can I come in?" She asked.

From the look of her she was probably the psychiatrist. "Um…sure…"

The woman pressed the button outside her cell and let herself in.

"Hello Ms. Kyle, my name is Dr. Erika Zuleika I'm the head psychiatrist of Arkham. I doubt anyone has said anything to you since you first arrived here late last night."

Dr. Zuleika had sat herself down in the chair across from Selina's bed.

"Not since Batman left."

"I didn't think so, they normally don't. First let me layout the rules of Arkham. There aren't many nor are they hard to follow. The first rule is if you want any privileges, you have got to earn them. You earn them by following rules, and behaving well. Secondly, you must attend sessions with me every day. We discuss many things. Things from your past present and discuss your future. We look into the reasons why you do the things you do and how to improve yourself. Lastly, you get two hours a day to mingle with your fellow inmates…"

Selina rolled her eyes, "oh joy" she said sarcastically. "Well at least it'll be more interesting than being stuck in here!"

Dr. Zuleika smiled, "Indeed."

"So basically, be civil and we'll get along grandly is that right?"

"Simply put, yes."

"What if one of the other inmates is being a bad apple?" asked Selina.

"Then report it to a warden, and if they don't act satisfactorily then tell me and I'll make sure it is dealt with."

"What if we are wrongly accused of doing something?"

"That's what security camera is for, if the offense is physically visible. If not then I guess I have to judge by who's more trust-worthy. Now then, your sentence was passed down early this morning. You were sentence to ten years, but you could make parole in two. So if you behave well, you'll be out of here in no time. And considering your record, if you behave well you could be moved to a county jail in anywhere's from six months to a year. But that is not for me to judge. Now is there any questions?"

Selina stretched and pulled her legs from under the covers. "No nothing relating to my sentence or to jail. I just want breakfast, I'm starving!"

The doctor smiled "Good and your breakfast should be on its way. Personally I have high hopes for you Ms. Kyle; you are not like the rest. I can sense that you want to change."

Selina gave the Dr. Zuleika a blank look "Whatever you say doctor! But note for the future; call me Selina not Ms. Kyle please."

Dr. Zuleika stood and walked to the cell door and knocked for the warden to let her out. "Of course Selina, I hope we become good friends." Dr. Zuleika turned her head as the guard walked up to the door carrying a tray of food. "It looks like your breakfast is here! I shall see you after lunch today for your first session! Have good day!" She turned and went out the door as the warden opened it. When she left, he slid the tray of food across the floor.

So much for room service, she thought. She stretched and placed her feet inside the ugly white sneakers and walked the short distance to pick up her tray of food. She opened the cover to discover a less then appealing plate of food. There was a slice of overdone toast, overdone bacon and some burned scramble eggs. The only utensil was a spoon made out of fibreglass and a small cup of orange juice, which was also made out of fibreglass. Selina sighed and forced it all down.

An hour later one by one Harley Quinn, Two-face A.K.A Harvey Dent, The Penguin, Ivy, Scarecrow and the Riddler, were all led to the recreation room. As Selina stepped into the larger room, the first thing she noticed was all of the guards there was four guards for every inmate. The next thing she noticed, there wasn't much to do. There were a couple of sofas, a T.V. hanging from the roof, a couple of tables with magazines and a couple of decks of playing cards and a wall of books.

From one of tables at the far end of the room, she heard Ivy holler "Hey Kitten over here!" Selina turned her head and saw Ivy motioning her over and Harley waving at her wildly with a big grin on her face. Selina let out quiet groan and walked over to their table.

"Hey there kitty-cat," chirped Harley happily "You look like you're in pretty good condition for being brought in by the Bat+s. Whenever he brings ME in I feel like I've run over by a semi! And I have SO many bruises!" Harley squinted at the recollections.

"Is that so? I guess I don't piss him off as much as you do." Selina said as she sat down across from them.

"I can't say that I'm really in any better condition." Ivy placed her head on her hand.

"Well I guess being that I don't try to kill people, he has a tendency to be nicer to me." Selina started rifling through a pile of magazine's looking for something to look at.

"You can't honestly say that you never tried to kill someone who was harming a cat!?"

"Actually Ivy, I can't say that I have! I've spent quite a bit of time when I was younger, in the rainforest and many other forests scaring the life out of poachers. But I never killed them, that I left for the cats to do if they so desired. I'm not a murderer, I'm a thief."

"Well plants aren't capable of protecting themselves! Do you know how many plants have gone extinct because of human negligence?" Ivy was starting to get riled up.

Selina gave her a bored look, "just as many animals have gone extinct. One need isn't more important than the other Ivy. And neither need should resort to killing innocent and naïve people. A better way to solve the worlds problem is to educate them not kill them."

"You two are getting boring you know that!" Harley had put her legs up and was twirling one of her blonde pig-tails. Ivy slammed her hands down on the table pushed back her chair and stormed off towards the couch's. "Aw come on Red, don't get angry! Sheesh."

Selina chuckled, "She's touchy one, isn't she?"

Harley smile broadly at her, "Yah, but she's alright though. You just gotta give her a chance! You don't seem nearly as intense as Red."

"Verbally, no I'm not. I don't see a point in arguing things. I prefer action. I just do things differently then Ivy."

"Yah, but whatever. So what's your take on the Bats, everybody here hates him. They all want him dead, well Mista J doesn't not really anyway. He loves play'n with his head. Me, I don't like him but I'd be happier if he'd just disappear."

"I don't think you really want to know what I think of him." Selina had finally found a magazine worth looking at and started flipping through it.

"Actually, I do! I was psychiatrist once you know, I like listening to people talk….and myself!!" Her smile went even wider. "So tell me."

"Alright, but remember you asked. Let's just we have a 'thing' for each other. Unfortunately he's too profession to really go past a 'thing'." She smiled as she remembered there last couple of encounters.

"You LIKE Batman!" If it was possible, Harley chin would be hanging on the ground.

"That's the understatement of the year." Selina smile mischievously, "I think he's totally smokin' hot. He's got a body to die for, he's highly intelligent and he isn't easy like most men. Most men you flash them a pretty smile, then they think you love them and will do anything to keep that phony love. But the Bat's no fool, that's part of what makes him so hot! Not to mention his kiss!" Selina flashed a very wicked smile at Harvey.

"You've kissed him……and he let you!" Harley looked more than a little flabbergasted.

"Like I said, we have a 'thing'. He might be very brutal at times but he's still a man. But like I also said, he's very professional. If he does harbour any feelings for me, he doesn't generally let them get in his way." Selina sighed.

"No wonder you've never been here before." Harley plopped her head into her hand.

Selina rolled her eyes, "Tch, no! You weren't listening to me. He doesn't let his feelings get in the way. He goes all out to catch me, he likes a challenge just like me and he knows I'd be disappointed if he didn't go all out. I get away by sheer talent and luck. The Bat-brats have accidently helped a couple of times too."

"Heh, Bat-brats I like that! Well I better go make nice with Red, I'll catch you later!" Harley got up and waved as she walked away. Selina was kind of happy to see her leave; she seemed sweet but very weird.

After a few moments of flipping the pages of her magazine she stopped at a picture of Bruce Wayne. It was a very recent on too. He looked very distinguished and even more handsome then the picture in the paper had portrayed. The look in his eyes was different then she remembered, he didn't look as…..jolly as he used to, he almost seemed sad maybe even lonely.

I guess even Bruce Wayne has to grow up sometime too. She didn't care too much about what the article said about him, it was all gossip and speculations. After actually getting to know Bruce, she realized how far off the mark the media was about him. He was a little wild, she gave them that much but he was a great man.

Selina suddenly jumped as a harsh voice rasped over her shoulder. "Man that boy sure has changed since I last met him!" Selina looked over her shoulder to find Two-face….or was it Harvey, looking at the picture she was looking at from over her shoulder.

"Didn't mean to scare you kitten." He said almost gently….it had to be Harvey.

"That's alright; I just didn't realize someone was standing behind me handsome."

Harvey smiled at her with his good half, "You must be getting my good side kitten. No wonder he was so taken by you. Bruce I mean. I've never seen him so taken aback by a woman before. Well not since college anyways."

"You and Bruce use to be best friends right." She smiled at him.

"That's right, Bruce and I use to light up Gotham with all the partying we did and all the women we saw. Then I became D.A. and had to more responsible and then…I became…this…"

Selina turned around and looked at him square in the face. "There is nothing wrong with the way you look. You just need a better way to let out anger then letting Two-face take over."

"If you say so kitten, give that here so I can look at it closer." Selina handed him the magazine. He looked at it for a moment, and then said "He looks sad, doesn't he. Maybe even lonely, I can't say I blame him. Any woman that takes interest in him is only interested in him because of his fat wallet." He gave her back the magazine.

"Why don't you sit down?" Harvey shrugged and sat next to her. "He's a great man!" She said after a moment, "Most people don't seem to realize that. I refuse to steal from him because of it. I know he's got some REALLY valuable things to steal, but he was such a great friend that I just can't do it."

Harvey smiled at her, "You really are one of a kind Sweet thing. But I know what you mean. Not even Two-face can make me do anything against him."

Suddenly a chill went down her spine and then she heard Penguin squawk. "What's this I hear about not harming or stealing from Wayne? He's the richest bird in Gotham! I'd pick his pocket everyday if he wasn't so hard to get at! Oh wait, that's right both of you knew that playboy as a friend! Pfft, friends." He shook his head and walked away.

Harvey and Selina looked at each and chuckled. "You want to play around of cards beautiful?" Selina chuckled again, "Sure handsome name the game."

For the rest of the two hour her and Harvey, sometimes Two-face, played cards. After the two hours was up they all had to go back to their cells. When she re-entered her cell she found that her bed and been neatly remade. But the rest of it was still the same old boring white and grey. After a moment of staring she at her bland room she flopped onto her bed and stared at the ceiling. Man did she miss Isis; suddenly she sat straight up again. Who would look after her? She couldn't become some stray and she doubted she could have her brought here. Absently she acknowledge the warden open her door and slide in her food, suddenly she came up with an idea.

"Hey Warden, am I allowed to write a letter?"

He shrugged, "I dunno take it up with your shrink, the boss lady is the one who decides." He closed the door and left.

Selina watched the warden leave, then went to the door and picked up her tray off the floor. She brought it to the table and lifted the lid off. It didn't look as bad as breakfast had; mashed potato and turkey but when she forked in a mouth full of mashed potato and some turkey, she found it had no flavour what so ever. Selina was no gourmet chief, but even she could cook better then whoever was doing the cooking for Arkham.

As Selina ate her tasteless food, her thoughts were dragged back to poor Isis. She kept on thinking about what she was planning to do about Isis', she wasn't entirely sure it was good idea or that it'd even been accepted.

Not long after Selina had finished eating, a different warden came and brought her to meet with Dr. Zuleika. They traveled up two more floors to reach the administrative offices, where the big kahoona's ran the building. In cuffs, Selina was led up a series of hallways before coming to a big fancy oak door. The warden opened the door and let her pass in first. The first thing you saw was a huge oak desk that matched the door with a young and well groomed women, Selina presumed to be the secretary, sitting behind it.

The warden walked up to the desk, and the secretary looked up at him and smiled brightly. The warden tipped his hat and smiled back at her, lovers Selina observed....or wanted to be lovers.

"Hey there Trish, this here is Ms. Selina Kyle to see the doc." He said as he set his hands down on the desk.

"Sorry Cal, you're going to have to wait a moment. Dr. Zuleika is still in there with Mr. Cobblepot, but they should be done right away! Why don't you take a seat?" Trish motioned to the opposite wall.

"Thanks Trish, not a problem." Both Selina and Cal walked to the chairs lined up along a wall. After they sat down, and Trish was back to doing her work, Selina leaned towards Cal and said, "She likes you, you know handsome."

"You think?" He said sounding rather surprised.

"I don't 'think' so handsome, I know so! Haven't you noticed the way she smiles at you?" Selina smiled to herself, young love.

"I always thought she was just being nice! Are you sure she likes me?" Cal looked at Selina.

"I'm rather good when it comes to these kinds of things," she smiled at him "You should ask her out, I'm sure she would say yes."

"I just might do that." He smiled shyly at her.

Suddenly loud shouts where heard from inside the doctor's office and then a loud crash. Cal rushed from her chair and burst into the office. After what sounded like a scuffle and a "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT LADY!" Oswald Cobblepot was forcefully led from the office. As he was marched by her, Selina smiled at him and he scowled back at her and said.

"What are you smiling at you lousy Manx!"

Selina kept on smiling as she said, "An ugly birdman."

"Why you!" He tried to lunge for her but Cal caught him and dragged him out of the office.

And so Selina sat there no guard to speak of and waited to be called into the doctor's office. After a moment, Selina heard a buzz from Trish's desk and saw her pick up the receiver of a phone. She spoke into it for a couple of a moments then hung up. She looked at Selina and said, "Dr. Zuleika is ready for you."

Selina got up and walked through the still open door. Dr. Zuleika sat behind her desk calmly sorting through some papers. Behind her a freshly wetted wall and a broken cup crumple on top of a shelf. As Selina approached the desk, Zuleika looked up at her.

"Selina! How good to see you. Why don't you take a seat on the sofa over there?" Zuleika motioned to corner of her office were sun light shone through a tiny raised window with bars across it.

Selina took a seat on the sofa and stared out at the small piece of clear blue sky. Oh how she wished she could be out there. When Zuleika was done with her paper's she walked over and sat down in a sofa chair across from Selina.

Selina spoke before Zuleika had a chance too. "Before you start picking at my soul, can I make a request?"

"You can but I can't guarantee that I'll be able to grant it." Zuleika place her hands on top the clipboard and folder she had carried with her.

"As I'm sure you know I'm very much a cat lover. I have this cat, she is very important to me and I realise that I can't have her here. I was wondering if I could send a letter too someone or maybe call them and request that, that person take care of her for me until I get out of this place." Selina looked the doctor square in the eyes and held her gaze.

"Well Selina, it all depends on who you are sending to and what the letter says. Which means; I'd have to read it first before we send it for you." Zuleika didn't look away from Selina.

"The letter won't be highly personal, he's just an old friend and I doubt the person will be a problem he's as squeaky clean....criminally that is...as one can get. You see I want to send my letter to Bruce Wayne."

Zuleika gave a surprised look, "Bruce Wayne!? I wasn't aware you knew him that well. But that shouldn't be a problem."

"Bruce was the sole reason why I stayed a good kitty for those two years. And Isis loved him! Plus he's the only legitimate friend I have right now. But I haven't spoken to him since I re-offended, he probably felt betrayed after I did what I did."

"And did that disturb you?" asked Zuleika as she ripped off a sheet of paper and hand it and a pen to Selina. Selina took them and set them in her lap as she thought of what to say.

Finally Selina responded, "Yes, after I had committed the act. Bruce had been a very loyal friend. He actually cared about the charities he gave to, he actually got involved. He always did his best to take care of me....he liked me more than a friend but the feelings weren't mutual, at least not romantically."

"How long has it been since you last spoke with him?"

"Five years" said Selina with a sigh.

"And do you think he forgave you?"

"I certainly hope so; he used to be that kind of man."

Zuleika smiled at Selina, "Well why don't you write that letter and find out!"

Selina picked up the pen from her lap and started writing, when she was done she hand the paper and pen back to Zuleika and said, "I asked him to send the letter to you if that's alright."

Zuleika read her letter over, then got up and walked over to her desk and got out an envelope from her desk, folded up the letter and put it in the envelope. She brought the envelope over to Selina and asked, "You wouldn't happen to know his mailing address would you? I doubt you could find it in any old directory."

"I think I do." Selina wrote the address she remembered on the envelope along with Mr. Bruce Wayne as its header.

Zuleika took envelope and put it under her clipboard. "I shall mail this when I leave later. Now that that is a side, let's talk about you."

Then they started their first session. First Selina had to tell about her childhood in Gotham and how she felt about it, then how she felt about her parent's death. She tried to say as little as possible, she didn't care to speak about such things. Two hours later, Selina was finally allowed to leave.

When she left Zuleika's office, Cal was there to escort her back to her cell. When Cal stepped out of her line of sight she saw Harvey Dent sitting in a chair next to his warden, looking rather unhappy. Selina smiled at him and when he saw her he smiled back.

"Hey there, handsome! Why so sour?" She took a couple steps forward.

"Why do you think, Kitten! That witch wants us to bleed our heart out to her! That stupid wench." He leaned a little forward. This was definitely Two-face she was talking too.

"Be nice to her Two-face, she doesn't seem too bad...for a head doctor."

Two-Face snorted a laugh, "This is your first day, beautiful. Just you wait in a week; you'll want to rip her heart out."

"You know handsome, you'll never get out of here if you be mean and nasty...." the other warden cut her off.

"Move it along lady, Cal get her outta here!" the warden started to stand but Two-Face slammed him back down. "I was talking to the lady not you!"

"HARVEY!" yelled Selina "I told you to behave yourself that doesn't help!" Harvey sat back and bowed his head and murmured a "sorry" to her. Both Cal and the warden just looked at her. After getting over his shock, Cal gently placed a hand on her back and guided her out the door.

After a couple of paces Cal said, "I'm gonna ask her out after work...maybe go for coffee or something."

Selina chuckled, "You smack around an ugly bird man and watch a fellow warden get smacked around by a guy with two personalities who was an attorney and all you can think about is a girl! Typical."

He gave Selina a wide charming grin, "Well that's all normal around here you know. It happens every day." All Selina could is smile and roll her eyes.

And so went her days; she would eat then go to the rec room for a couple of hours, return to her cell and eat lunch. Then she would go visit the doctor and have the rest of the day to herself. Her days became too relaxed so she began spending her night doing a light workout. It both passed the time and kept her from getting to out of shape.

* * *

A few days after Selina was brought to Arkham Asylum, a slim elderly man who carried himself with such ease and grace of one much younger then he, strolled through a high arched doorway with a pile of mail in hand. As he crossed the highly polished marble floor, he began filing through the mail but stopped dead in his tracks when saw a letter that had been sent from the local high security jail, Arkham Asylum. Upon seeing the letter, the elderly man changed his direction and headed off to the wide set of carpeted marble stairs.

After walking up two flights of stairs and taking a complicated path of many twist and turns down multiple hallways, he finally came to a stop in front of beautiful mahogany set of doors. He twisted the gold door knob on the left door and swinging it open as he passed through and closed it behind him.

He sighed when he looked up and saw another man still in a deep sleep on a very grand bed. He passed the bed and walked over to a wall made out of over sized curtained windows. He walked to the far side the wall and depressed a button on the opposing wall. Slowly the curtains drew to one side and the mid-day sunlight shone through.

Suddenly the sleeping man began to stir and let out a moan. The old man let out a gentle smile and crossed over to the bed.

"Good afternoon, Master Bruce!" The old man said as he stopped at Bruce's bedside.

Bruce let out another moan and pulled his blanket over his head. From under the covers he said, "What is it Alfred?" His voice was laced then more than a little irritation.

"There's a letter here for you." said Alfred as he tugged a little on Bruce's covers.

"Yes, and?" he pulled the blanket even farther over his head.

"It's from Arkham, sir." Alfred held out the letter as Bruce's head suddenly popped out and he squinted at the letter.

"From Arkham? Does it say who it's from?" Bruce pulled his arm out from under the covers and held out his hand. Alfred placed the letter in his hand and said, "No sir, it doesn't."

Alfred turned and left the room. Bruce squinted at it a couple seconds longer allowing his eyes to adjust to the light. A few moments later he sat up and swung his legs out from under the blanket. Bruce stretch and yawned as he stood up and walked over to the desk tucked in the farthest corner of the room.

From the desk top he picked up a letter opener and ripped the envelope open. He slipped out the letter and threw the envelope a side. Opening the letter he recognized the writing even before he read the name, it was from Selina Kyle. This is what her letter read:

_Dear Bruce,_

_As I'm sure you've already heard, I have finally been put back in jail. I'm sorry for any pain or inconvenience I may have caused you, you didn't deserve whatever I may have caused you. You were such a great friend to me I didn't deserve such a friend._

_I'm afraid there is a reason besides me apologizing that I have wrote this letter...it may seem a little silly and childish of me to ask this but you know how I am about cats._

_Do you remember Isis? I remember how much she loved you and quite frankly you are the only person I know that I consider as a friend. My sentence is for ten years, but if I'm a good girl I may get out in two. But until then I need someone to look after Isis for me._

_And that is what I ask of you, to look after Isis for me. I don't expect you to do it, but I would deeply appreciate it. If are willing to do this thing for me, let my psychiatrist Dr. Erika Zuleika, know and I will send you instructions._

_Hopefully still your friend,_

_Selina Kyle_

Bruce shook his head; he should have been able to expect something like this from her. But he hadn't thought about her cat when he threw her in prison. Now she was asking him to look after her cat, mainly because the cat liked him.

Bruce let out another yawned and rotated a rather swore shoulder. He had been out all night chasing after the Joker but to no avail. One of the Joker's goons had snuck up from behind and had tried to squash his head with an iron pole. He had sensed the man in time to manage not getting knocked out, but not quick enough to make goon miss all together and received a hard blow to the shoulder.

Bruce walked over to one of his night stands and placed the letter on top of it and head off towards his bathroom. He stopped in front of his mirror and tried to glance at his shoulder. From what he could see, it was rather well bruised and it'll probably be even more swore by tomorrow but that couldn't stop him from doing his job.

Bruce stripped off his sweat pants, and stepped into his ivory and gold lined walk in shower and turned on the water and let it pour down his bruised body. He hadn't slept well again last night, he hasn't been able to every since he first saw Catwoman nearly a week ago. All that ever really happened was a couple of rather sultry kisses, but those kisses have made his mind run wild. Every night since, he has been having erotic dreams.

A woman has never affected him like Selina Kyle has...no one. At first he had been deeply disturbed at being so affect by her, he had never let anyone through his steel skin that protected him before. But now he didn't know what to think. Something in him was telling him that it wasn't a bad thing to feel the way that he did. But he still wasn't sure.

Bruce forced himself to focus on his shower. After he had finished washing himself off, he quickly dried himself off and walked over to his large closet and picked out some casual clothes, not really planning on leaving the house. Bruce strolled out of the room and made his way to the kitchen.

He found Alfred standing in front to the kitchen's large grand kitchen island. On the counter in front of him was a cutting board that he promptly dumped the contents into a dish by his elbow, completing the salad he was making. Alfred turned around and pulled open a draw behind him and pulled out a fork, placed it into the salad dish and handed the dish to Bruce.

"Your lunch sir."

"Thank you Alfred. What would you if I got a cat?" Bruce picked up the fork and started eating his salad.

"A cat sir? What made you want to get a cat, sir?"

Bruce chuckled softly as he took in Alfred's shocked reaction. "The letter you gave me. It was from Selina Kyle, she wants me to take care of her cat while she's in jail."

Alfred started cleaning his work station as he spoke. "Ms. Kyle? Well that explains it. Well, I suppose I could handle having it around. Cats are fairly independent creatures."

"I figured I should ask you since you'll be the one dealing with her most of the time, cleaning after her." Bruce shoved another fork full of salad into his mouth.

Alfred made another detour for the fridge pulled out a pre-made protein shake and walked back to the island, placing the shake before Bruce. "I appreciate the thought sir, but this is your house. So really it does not matter what I think."

"If you truly believed that Alfred, you would not say half the things you say to me with the tones you use either."

Alfred smiled at Bruce. "Well someone's got to keep you in line, sir. No one else will."

Bruce put his finished dish down on the island and reached for his shake. "Where's Tim?" he asked as he brought the drink to his lip and proceeded to chug it down in one gulp.

"Its Wednesday sir, he is at school!"

"Right, I keep on loosing track of the days. Am I possibly forgetting that I need to do something today, I honestly cannot remember that I was supposed to do anything important?" Bruce placed the cup down as Alfred quickly scooped it up and his dish up and placed them in the dish washer that was set in the island.

"Master Bruce, you may forget what day of the week it is but that is because you lose track of time not because you are forgetful. It is very rare when you actually forget something."

"Well, at least I am not completely losing my mind."

"You know Master Bruce, you could go to Arkham and personally tell Miss Kyle that you will take care of her cat. Show her that there are no hard feelings, far from it really."

Bruce let out a sigh, "Yah, yah I know."

"I am sure the psychiatrist will allow it. You are Bruce Wayne after all. You fund most of their projects. Maybe they even let you see Mister Dent?"

Bruce let another sigh, a frustrated one. "I doubt they would let me see Harvey, he's too mentally unstable right now. And I am not sure I want to have a sit down session with Arkham's head shrink. I am sure she will ask a lot of questions."

"Maybe, but I doubt they will be anything to personal. Just in relation to Miss Kyle. I really think you should."

"I know you do Alfred, I will have to think about it. I have some work that I need to get too. I will be in the cave if you need me." Bruce rotated his shoulder as he headed for the kitchen door.

"Very good sir."

* * *

Selina sat in the rec room staring at the wall, ignoring the conversations going on around her. She didn't even realize that someone was talking to her until, that person was gently shaking her arm. Selina blinked a couple of times then turned her head towards the person shaking her.

"Oh sorry handsome, I spaced out there for a moment. What were you saying?"

Harvey smiled at her, "No it is nothing beautiful, thinking about your cat again?"

"Yah, it's been a while since I sent Bruce that letter. And I'm getting worried whether someone is going take care of Isis." Selina placed her chin on her hand.

"Bruce is not one to hold grudges. At the same time Bruce has never been one to have pets either. He does not really have time for them." Harvey shuffled the deck in his hand while he spoke.

"Yah, but Alfred is there all the time. Plus that house is so big; she'll be too busy discovering to need being paid attention too."

Harvey patted Selina's freehand with his good hand. "Stop worrying that pretty little head of yours, beautiful! It will not help anything!"

Selina sighed, "I know."

"Hey ugly!" squawked Oswald from ten feet away. "Laying it on a bit thick aren't yah! You think a good lookin' broad like her would really have any interest in you if she didn't have more options?"

Two-face lurched out of his seat with a highly annoyed look on his face. "You got something to say, fish breathe!" He growled

Selina jumped to her feet and put herself between Two-Face and Oswald, placing her hands on Two-Face's chest. "Don't handsome, he's not worth it!" She hissed. "Beside's handsome, he's just jealous! You were born with dashing good looks, and he was born ugly. I mean you could have any woman you wanted without trying; you probably still could...if you behave. He couldn't pay a woman to be with him." Off to the side Selina heard Harley and Pamela chuckling. Even Two-Face's good side was turned up into an awkward smirk.

Behind her she could hear Oswald fuming. "You lousy, stinking...."

"Now, now, Oswald. If you can't dish it don't serve it!" Selina turned, satisfied that Two-Face had calmed down, and smiled at Oswald.

Just then, the captain of the security guards stepped towards them with his baton in hand. "Split it up you three or you're going back to your cells!"

"No need captain, handsome and I were about to play some cards anyways!" Selina turned back to Two-Face and gently pushed him back to the table they had just come from.

For the rest of their two hours Selina managed to keep both Oswald and Two-Face from trying to kill each other. Today was one of Harvey/Two-Face's worst days since Selina had been there. More often than not, Two-Face had the controls.

Harvey only seemed to make an appearance when dealing with her, although Two-Face still had control most of the time. But it didn't matter too much to Selina who she was talking too. She liked them both, and they both seemed to adore her. The others didn't quite agree with that, they had a hard time keeping up with his constant personality changes.

Like every other day, when their time was up in the rec room, they were all led back to their cells to have their lunches. Normally Selina was some where's in the middle of the group to have their turn with Zuleika, but today was different, today she was last. At first she thought this was kind of odd, but then shrugged it off thinking that even a doctor needed a change in routine every once in a while.

But as Cal led her up to the offices, talking constantly about his and Trish's date, she suddenly got suspicious that something out of the ordinary was about to happen. Just walking into the waiting room she could tell, it was above and beyond clean. Nothing had a speck of dust on it, the floor was recently cleaned and brought to a high polish and even the secretary Trish's wooden desk gleamed, as well as being insanely organized.

Cal threw a winning smile at Trish as we entered the room; the smile that she returned was equally winning and flirtatious. Selina smiled at her obvious genius and ability to read people; apparently she had been VERY correct about these two.

"Hey Trish!" He deserted his post from my side, and strode to stand by the side of the desk.

Trish tried her best to be professional as she quickly looked at me and spoke.

"Dr. Zuleika is waiting for you, just head on in!" She managed to watch me long enough, to make sure I was heading in the right direction then turned her full attention to her handsome warden beau.

The second I stepped through the doors I stopped. Immediately I was aware that there was someone else besides the doctor in the room. There was a man seated in the seat directly in front of the doctor's gigantic desk. And even though I could only see the back of his head I knew exactly who it was. Bruce Wayne. Dr. Zuleika turned her face towards me and nodded for me to come in.

"Shut the doors if you could, Selina."

Bruce stood and turned around as I closed the door gently behind me. I desperately hoped that if he was here, that it was a good thing. When I finally allowed myself to look squarely at Bruce I knew it was. Bruce had that big old playboy smile on his face. The one that she had come to love in her short but sweet friendship she had with him. It caused her to return a smile.

"It looks like your letter paid off Selina," said Zuleika as she walked around the desk.

"I was certainly surprised when Alfred brought your letter to me a couple of days ago. But I was also delighted to; it's been to long since we last met."

Bruce had made his way around the chair, to give her a sweet peck on the cheek and stepped back.

"Well the circumstances haven't been exactly ideal, at least not for you. I didn't want to get you in trouble for having a talk with me while I was still at large."

"I suppose not."

Selina had suddenly felt self conscious about herself. Bruce was used to seeing her in fine, high quality clothing and her face and hair all done up. But now she stood before him in a orange jumpsuit, with no makeup on and her hair hanging loosely down her back. But Bruce paid no mind to her looks, he was genuinely happy to see her. The sadness from his eyes that'd she'd seen in the pictures was gone but she could still detect the hint of loneliness there.

"I do not wish to seem rude, but Dr. Zuleika said that I had to make this short. So I have come here for a reason, which I am sure you have already guessed." His smile changed to a smile with a hint of mischievousness behind it.

It was all Selina could do to keep herself contained. She was so happy to have gotten her way, or at least that is what she assumed. "Isis?" Was all she said.

Bruce chuckled, seeing how happy this small thing seemed to make her. "Yes, Isis. She can stay with me until you have earned you freedom. I'm sure she will be very happy living at the manor!"

"Oh I know she will. She's always been a cat that has enjoyed luxuries. She should be at my apartment. The address is, 413-102 Alexandra Street. I've hidden a key on the underside of the door; no one would think to look there. I should have a bag of food in the cupboard beside the sink. She's used to being fed twice a day, in the morning and evening. Only give her a half a cup per meal. She'll need a litterbox if she's going to be inside all the time...."

Laughing Bruce put up his hands to keep her from rambling on. "I think I get the basics, Selina. By tomorrow morning she should nice and cozy at the manor, I promise."

Selina smiled warmly at him, she couldn't get over what a great and generous man he really was. He seemed to thrive on making her happy. "Bruce, I just want you to know just how much this means to me. Thank you!"

"And you are most certainly welcome!! Now if only everyone was so easily pleased!! Well I best be on my way, so you can continue your day. Have a good day Selina, Dr. Zuleika." He slid past me as he headed towards the door, then stopped he reached them and turned around. "Tell Harvey I said 'Hi', if you can."

"Certainly Bruce, that's the least I can do for you."

That playboy smile resurfaced as he turned away once more and opened the doors to leave. Bruce had managed to make her decide to remain in Arkham all in one short visit.

* * *

Thanks again!! Constructive criticism is always welcome, or if you want to through an idea at me I'm always open to them! Reviews will be loved!

Shockra


	5. Chapter 4

Sorry it took so long to get this up!! I've hardly had a chance to work on this!! This Chapter is all Batman, next one will have catwoman/selina in it! I promise!! Enjoy!!

Disclaimer: I donot own anything in relation to batman or the DC world.

* * *

Batman stared through his small but powerful pair of binoculars into a small, dark room across the alley from him. This was undoubtedly the apartment that Selina had been staying at. He didn't think that Selina would give a false address if she wanted him, well Bruce Wayne, to look after her cat. But he couldn't help and be suspicious of any information that he got from her. And what tipped Batman off that this was the right apartment was the large grouping of cats darting to and fro, exiting and entering the apartment.

Satisfied, he pulled out a Bat-grapple and hurled it at the opposing building's roof. Silently he glided across the across the street and landed softly against the side of the building beside the open window. After he clipped himself to the rope, he reached over to the window and carefully inspected the frame. He doubted that Selina would leave her room without any security features, but as he looked at the window he couldn't see anything that looked like a trip wire or any other sort of trap. It was certainly possible that if Selina thought that some of her security measures could harm her cats she wouldn't implement them. She was more concerned about their safety then her own.

Slowly Batman slide the window open further, making sure that he didn't miss any hidden traps. When the window was finally open wide enough for him to easily slid in, he reluctantly perched himself on the windows ledge and unhooked himself from the rope and forcing the grapple to let go of the roof and tucked it back into his belt, then pulled out a small but powerful pen light.

He shone the light on the floor immediately in front of the window, then followed the wall until the light met the opposing wall, and then did the same in the other direction. After Batman was fully satisfied that the room wasn't booby trapped, he started investigating the room. Batman hadn't come here just to pick up Selina's cat, but to also find as much information as he could.

His search was successful; in the middle of the living room floor he had found a loose floor board. When he had moved it away, a small vault stared up at him. He took out the vault and placed it on the counter in the kitchen and made quick work of the lock, and soon the little door swung open.

For a man like him, what he found was a gold mine. She had stored all kinds of useful information in that vault. She had several lists; like buyers, informants, where to get certain types of equipment and so on. There were also specs on several buildings as well as specs on several different security systems. Selina was thorough in her research for her new targets; she never let any small detail go over looked. No wonder she had been so hard to find.

Batman continued combing the small apartment but that was all he was going to find. So finally he grabbed the food that Selina had mentioned and then grabbed Isis; who he had found lounging peacefully on the single bed and went to leave the apartment.

Isis had been more then cooperative with him. When Batman started to exit the window, she jumped up on to his shoulder and curled around his neck like he had seen her do with Catwoman; freeing his hands to safely swing back up to the rooftops. He jumped from rooftop to rooftop until he made it back to the alley where he had the Batmobile parked and cloaked. When he opened the hatch she jumped down from his shoulder into the passenger seat and curled up as he jumped in.

Batman sat there a moment, considering on whether he should take Isis home first or if he should just continue on his rounds. Isis gave no indications on having a desire to be anywhere's then where she was as she drifted off into her cat nap. He decided that there was no point in wasting time returning to the Batcave to drop her off and decided to continue on his rounds.

As Batman was winding through the streets of the most criminally active areas, the small computer in his dashboard chimed. He pressed a button on the screen, and the monitor came to life showing Nightwing's face.

There was a ghost of a smile on Nightwing's lips, as he started talking without being prompted. He knew Batman well enough not to expect him to waste their time on what Batman considered as pointless small talk.

"I've pin-pointed Joker's location." Nightwing spoke very quietly which suggested that he had already entered the location and had a direct visual. "He's setup in the Holly Jolly Toy Factory on the corner of 9th and G."

Batman stomped on his gas, "I'm two blocks away."

"I'm going to make a nice little perimeter, by the time you get here you should have a pretty clear shot of the Joker."

Nightwing disconnect as Batman screech around the corner of the first block and came barrelling on to the lot of the Holly Jolly. After he had come to a screeching halt he pointed at Isis and said "Stay" as she looked up at him hopefully. With a sigh she put her delicate head down on her back paws curled into a tight ball.

Batman quickly lunged out of the Batmobile, cloaked it and used his grapple to pull him to the room. The only guards that Batman could see on the outer perimeter were unconscious guards. Behind him Batman heard the faintest steps trying to sneak up on him; those steps could only be Nightwing.

With his back still turned Batman said, "I can hear you." As he turned around, much to his surprise it wasn't just Nightwing but Robin as well. He didn't let the surprise show on his face; it was probably Robin that he had really heard. Normally Nightwing was as quiet as him, but he still couldn't sneak up on him...he might have today.

Nightwing leaned against the factories sign in the shadow and Robin was only ten feet away from him. Now there was a wide grin on Nightwing's face, and a look of sheer disappointment on Robin's. Ignoring them once more, Batman turned and surveyed the perimeter.

"What you don't trust me? I told you I'd make a perimeter! Now let's get going, times a wastin'!" Nightwing righted himself and made for the nearest edge and flung himself over the ledge.

"Robin, check for any hostages, bombs or traps. DO NOT take the Joker on by yourself!"

Robin sighed, "Hostages, bombs and traps, got it."

Like Nightwing, Robin jumped over the building's ledge and disappeared into the shadows. Batman decided to take the more frontal approach to keep any attention being brought to Nightwing or Robin.

The Joker was desperate right now. Every attempted he'd made to get some money had been spoiled by Batman. What Joker did have for henchmen were either the mentally slow or the very inexperience. They didn't stand a chance. But that didn't make the Joker less dangerous, if anything it made him MORE dangerous.

Batman too jumped over the ledge of the building but made for the opposite direction that Nightwing and Robin had made for. He landed softly in front of the main doors and walked boldly through them. Once inside Batman melted into the nearest shadow and silently made his way through the deserted halls. After a few hallways Batman could see the large main part of the factory were all the toys were assembled lay.

It was immediately obvious that this is where Joker had decided to make his home base. There was random pictures spray painted every where's. There were also mutilated toys scattered throughout the room as well, in a far corner Batman could see a board covered with papers; most like plans Joker was making for his next heist or threat of some sort.

To Batman's immediate left was a stairwell that led up to the catwalk that circle the whole room. But going up this stairwell had both positive and negative advantages. If he went up the stairs he'd have a better view of the place and it'd be easier finding hidden enemies. On the other hand Joker would predict him getting higher ground, that was common place for Batman, but being at floor level was way too dangerous; he'd be a sitting duck down there. So he decided to take his chances with the stairs.

Batman carefully made his way up the stairs; so far he hadn't come across any booby traps. Most of the Joker's liar's were practically a mine field, which made him worried. Batman also hadn't seen the Joker or any of his goons either which could only mean one of two things; either Nightwing had already engaged the Joker and Joker had fled or else the Joker knew he was here. Batman hadn't heard any guns go off so it was more likely that the Joker knew he was here.

Batman slowly crept along, knowing that he'd find the Joker any minute now. Suddenly he came to an abrupt stop when he heard someone whispering not eight feet away.

"Do ya think the Bats inside yet, Boss?"

"Shut up you fool; you're going to give us away!" Came Joker's harsh whisper along with a muffled thump.

Batman crouched down and pressed his back to the wall as he crept a couple feet closer. Then he stopped and listen, trying to figure out how many there were and what types of weapons they carried.

From the corner of his eye Batman saw a flash of movement and immediately recognized Nightwing heading straight for the group. Batman stood up quickly and rushed forward, before he made it too the corner he heard someone say, "There he is!"

Batman skidded around the corner kicked the gun out of the goons hand as he fired at Nightwing's gliding figure. They bullet had gone wide thanks to Batman's well place kick and Nightwing made a swift landing beside him and went straight for the second henchman as Batman kneed his opponent in the stomach, and clubbed the goon over the head with both of his clenched fists knocking him out.

Both Batman and Nightwing turned at the same time to go after the Joker but the Joker had already started running away. They had gotten a glimpse of a purple suit as he jumped over the rail to the floor below.

As he ran, he laughed his psychotic laugh which told Batman that he wasn't really running away from them but running to something. And it was probably best that he didn't make it. Both he and Nightwing jumped over the ledge, but instead of falling immediately to the ground they glided along and until they made soft landing twelve feet away. Nightwing had glided farther and landed directly in front of the Joker but before could take a swing at the Joker; the Joker kicked his legs out from under him and kicked him in the head as he continued on running. Batman had not landed far behind him and in two more strides, managed stop the Joker as he turned to face Batman.

The Joker had tried to sucker punch Batman as he turned toward him, but Batman saw it coming and easily deflected it. Then he tried to do the same as he had done to Nightwing and knock Batman's feet from underneath him but Batman leapt high in to the air and kicked out landing it square in the middle of the Joker's chest.

Batman heard the quick exit of air from the Joker's lungs and he landed hard on his back. As Batman landed on his feet and pulled his cape to hang over his chest, the Joker had his hands clasped to his chest trying to regain his breath. Batman walked over to him cautiously and when he stood over him the Joker started laughing hysterically again.

"Aw, come on Batsy! You're ruining my fun!!!"

Batman reached down and hauled Joker to his feet keeping a tight grasp on the Joker's hands. Slowly Nightwing staggered to his feet, causing the Joker to go into another fit of laughter.

"Gotta give the kid some points for resiliency, eh Batsy!" Once again the Joker chuckled to himself.

Nightwing glared at him balefully as Batman clapped his personalized cuffs on the Joker's wrists. From a different door that neither Batman nor Nightwing used, Robin strolled in.

"Aww, I missed all the action didn't I!"

"No sweat kid, it was a very short pursuit." Nightwing smiled while still rubbing his head, "Why don't you cuff dumb and dumber up on the catwalk, don't want any of these morons getting away!"

Robin nodded and climbed up the nearest racking to the catwalk. Nightwing turned back to Batman, as Batman cleaned out each and every pocket, even going as far as to rip the lining of his jacket and discarding each item into a rather large pile out of Joker's reach.

"Gordon's on his way," Nightwing said as he walked over to the ever growing pile and carefully started inspecting each item and disarming what he could, "he should be hear any minute."

"Oh goodie, then me and ole' Jim can have a heart to heart on my rather unnecessarily rough treatment." Joker let out a giggle, as to why no one knew.

Seconds later the man in question strode through the door followed by a large armada of cops. See the cops Nightwing and Robin figured that there was no point in their remaining, when they had other people to save; and disappeared into the shadows leaving Batman to finish up.

When the Joker had been loaded up into the back of a Police van, Batman jumped into the Batmobile. Isis had been sitting there waiting for him and seemed excited for his returned. She rubbed against his arm as he put the Batmobile into gear and followed after the Police van.

After a few moments she settled herself back into her tight ball and drifted back to sleep as they lumbered slowly along the streets to Arkham. She didn't so much as flinch; as he came to a stop and jumped out of the Batmobile again and went off to personally escort the Joker to his cell. It wasn't that he didn't trust the police; it's just that he didn't trust the Joker.

Batman came up to the van just as they started unloading the Joker, and it was obvious that the Joker was about to make an attempt at an escape; then he saw Batman and thought better of whatever he was planning.

"Batsy, you came!! I thought you might've forgotten about dear ole' Joker. Come to say your farewells have we?"

Batman grabbed Joker rather roughly by the arm and propelled him towards the entrance of Arkham; receiving glares from the police officers. As they enter Arkham the guards had everything prepared for his arrival. First the outfitted him with a newly designed straightjacket, and apparently they didn't want him playing mind games on his trip to his cell for they had a gag for him.

None of the guards wanted to take responsibility of escorting the Joker, not that'd he'd let them, but cleared a way for the Joker and Batman as they made their way down the few halls and only Batman waited in the elevator with the Joker as it made its way to its set destination.

As the doors slid open there was a warden waiting there for them. All of the Joker's affect had been left down stairs which only left the warden with leading them to the Joker's cell.

"Puddin'!" Hollered Harley from her cell as she waved crazily at him.

Even Selina couldn't help pipe in as the Joker got led past her cell, "Hey handsome, I wasn't suffering enough so you had to bring the clown! That's awfully cruel, handsome!" She gave him the smile she always gave him, Batman couldn't help but smirk at her.

He knew full well how much she hated the Joker, he really didn't blame her. The Joker was going to test her will at wanting to remain here in Arkham. It was hard for her as it was but the Joker made it considerably harder.

When the Joker had finally made it to the cell, Batman did another through search of both him and his cell. When he was done, he pulled the gag from the Joker's mouth and stepped back from the door as the warden shut the Joker in.

"I'm gonna pay them back for gagging me, no one gags the Joker!" The Joker continued rambling but Batman had turned his back to him as he handed the gag to the warden.

The warden gave him a smile, "Did you really have to remove that? Now I'm going to have to listen to him all night! Next time break his jaw so he can't talk, 'kay!"

Batman smirked at this brave warden; he was one of the newer ones. He'd only seen him a handful of times but he didn't seem scared of Batman. "Maybe."

"Haha, sweet! Later Batman."

Batman turned and left the building and once again got into the Batmobile. Once again Isis was sitting up in the passenger seat and mewed when he got in and rubbed against his arm happily. This time Batman reached across the seat and rubbed her head, "Let's see if we can get you back home this time!" She started purring loudly as he scratched her behind the ears.

A moment later he threw the Batmobile into gear and sped off in the direction of home.

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Its a bit short i know, probably lots of grammar errors since i didn't proof read, and i don't if my "action scene" was any good. Tell me what you think! Review please!!!

Shockra


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the DC world...i'd be a millionaire...

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Two years Later

As Selina had predicted the clown had made it VERY difficult for her to remain in Arkham willingly. The clown had often tried to convince her to help him break out, knowing full well she was capable. But Selina absolutely loathed the Joker and wouldn't so much as lift a finger for him. She was more prone to get him into trouble then get him out of trouble. But the Joker was persistent. He tried to woo her, much to her disgust...she nearly hurled when he started laying it on and then proceeded to laugh in his face. That landed him in Harley's bad graces and took him months for her to forgive him, to both Selina's and Ivy's disgust.

When he couldn't woo her he tried to threaten her, well that worked just as well as flirting. He had nothing to threaten her with, and Selina could be somewhat reckless and knew that the Joker could never touch her even if she was intimidated by him, which she so wasn't. But the Joker did pay dearly for threatening her. Initially she had laughed in his face and told him to go find a spoon and make himself a tunnel like the other felon's.

Selina wasn't one to squeal on others but for the Joker and her own sanity, she decided to make an exception. The first person she told was Harvey/Two-face but she made them promise her that then wouldn't do anything that'd get them in trouble, just keep the Joker away from her. Then she told Cal, the guard who she had developed a bizarre friendship with, who passed it on to the other guards. Cal practically idolized Selina. He came to her for advice with his now girlfriend Trish and made sure she benefited from some perks that she was permitted to indulge in. Then she told Dr. Zuleika, which cause the Joker to be confined under careful supervision for ten days.

She quickly became well liked and respected by the Arkham staff and even by some of her fellow convicts. But she didn't have to put up with Arkham as long as she had thought. When Dr. Zuleika told her that she might be able to get out of Arkham in anywhere from six months to a year, she thought "Yeah right". But much to her dismay, after her tenth month she was brought before a review board. After which they had decided that Selina was serious about wanting rehabilitate, that it was safe to move her to a state penitentiary.

This came with both positives and negatives. The negatives were few but still annoying. She had a regular serving of rather delicious meals, one of her perks for being a good kitty, but the food in the pen was deplorable. That was the only really big negative in Selina's mind. But at least now she had more freedom. Now Selina spent most of her days in the rec rooms and outside in the sometimes sunshine. This provided her more opportunity to get herself back into her former shape.

Selina still could remember her first day at the state pen; word had obviously gone around that she was coming down from Arkham. They didn't know exactly who she was or what she did to get herself taken to Arkham but the fact that she had been in Arkham made her dangerous. The first time she stepped among her fellow inmates, she was instantly the center of attention.

All of the female gangster's came forward to try and intimidate her to let her know that this was their turf. None of them were straight forward about it of course, but when there wasn't a guard or security camera in sight they took advantage, or at least they tried.

Five women had "cornered" Selina in a blind spot in the exercise yard the first morning. At least two of them had created themselves shanks from various types of material and were sticking them in her direction. Selina had been trying to find a quiet place to stretch her cramped muscles; when they crowded her in a corner.

Selina put a hand on her hip with a smirk on her lips, as she surveyed her new opponents. A couple of them were absurdly muscled for a woman's frame, a couple were so thin they almost looked anorexic; which made her wonder how they survived in their harsh world. Their leader stood slightly closer than the rest and stared Selina in the face.

"Can I help you ladies?" Selina said trying to sound as soothing and sweet as possible. She didn't care for fighting unnecessarily but when it came down to it Selina was very capable of taking care of herself. If she could keep up with the bats then she could destroy these ladies.

"Huh, that's cute. So ya think you're better than us, dontcha?" The woman cracked her knuckles as she took a step towards Selina. "Ya think yer pretty face will protect, ya? Well it might've worked in that nut house, but it ain't gonna work here!"

Selina chuckled, "I'm flatter that you think I'm pretty, but sorry I'm in to men, REAL men." Selina held up a finger as the woman lurched towards her and she stopped.

"And I don't think I'm better then you, I'm just more skilled and definitely more experienced then you. A word of warning ladies, don't mess with me. I have more dangerous friends then you could ever know, my reach is very far in the underworld..."

"Well where are yer friends? Huh? I don't see anyone!" The other women chuckled as they all took another step closer. Selina put her finger up again, now a trace of irritation crossing her face.

"You interrupted me; I was getting to the good part. I didn't make it as far as I did for as long as I did because of my friends. In the underworld, your friends are very rarely reliable when they are found out. I can take care of myself ladies, and I have punks like you for breakfast. But I'm trying to turn over a new leaf, trying to be a good girl. I've managed to be good for ten months, so far, and I really don't want to get into a fight and ruin my good record. So I'll ask you nicely to back off; or you'll regret the choice not to."

There was a moment's pause, as the ladies took the sight of Selina in. She stood there confidently, arms crossed now over chest and foot tapping with impatience. When the moment passed, the leader growled out "GET HER!"

The two bigger women lunged forward, fists clenched ready to swing. Selina leaned back as the first woman swung, then dropped down as to dodge the next fist as she kicked the legs out from both the woman. They both come down hard on their sides and the one sat up again immediately. Selina used the woman's shoulders a step up as she kicked out again connecting with a surprised attackers jaws. The blow sent the woman falling back and knocked her out. When Selina landed on her feet she mule kicked behind her and knocked out the woman who had served as her step.

The two remaining women were the ones with the shanks. The nearest one took a swipe at Selina stomach getting nothing but air. As the woman followed through with her swing, Selina landed a punch near the woman's ear continuing the woman's momentum twisting her. Selina quickly turned to face her last opponent as the woman charged her with her shank. She jumped as high as she could into the air and grabbed on to the now stunned woman's shoulders and catapulted herself over the woman's head. When Selina landed on her feet, she dropped down again and kicked the woman behind the knees. When the woman dropped down, Selina clamped her hands together and used them to club the woman in the back of the head.

Selina stood up and looked to see if any would get up to challenge her, but they were either rolling around in pain or unconscious. In the distant Selina could hear running feet, which only could be guards. Selina knew she couldn't be caught here with five unconscious women, whether it was self-defence or not. So Selina used her substantial sleuthing abilities and disappeared before the guards came in to view.

For the rest of Selina's stay, most of the inmates left her alone. There were a few others' that had challenged her but none had succeeded. Only one was brave enough to try and befriend her.

A young woman named Saris started talking to Selina on Selina's second day. The girl seemed to be very sweet, and she wasn't even twenty. Selina couldn't understand how a girl like Saris, could be in a place like this. Upon questioning Selina found out that the girl had attacked and nearly killed her boyfriend. The boy had been abusive with Saris both physically and mentally. Finally Saris had enough of the abuse, took her father's bat and waited for him to come home from his job. When the boy came through the door she swung the bat at his head, when he hit the ground she hit him in the back a couple of time and took off as his parents were exiting they're vehicle.

Selina had decided to take it on to herself to mentor the young woman. To Selina's delight Saris was an animal lover too. Selina told Saris about some of her endeavours in the jungles and began teaching the girl how to defend herself. Selina's self-defence classes were done out of sight of the guards so that they wouldn't start being suspicious unnecessarily of them.

Saris was an excellent student, she drank up everything Selina had to say. And like Selina had thought, she was a good girl. She regretted attacking her boyfriend and realised that there were other ways she could have handled her situation. After Selina's one year mark at the women's pen, Saris' sentence was up and she was released. Saris was very concerned about being able to find a job now that she was a felon, so Selina told Saris go to Wayne Enterprise and give them her name and insist that whoever interview's her, to give Selina's name to Bruce Wayne.

The girl was ecstatic and gave her a final hug before she left. After Saris left, Selina started getting anxious. Without Saris there demanding her attention, Selina's jail term didn't seem so bad but now that she was gone the days went by painstakingly slow. Or maybe it was because Selina was coming up to that two year mark that had her so anxious. The next three month crawled by, and Selina was well aware that the two year mark and come and gone.

She had begun thinking that maybe she was going to have to serve her full ten years. But finally as the days continued to crawl on, a guard came to get her and delivered her into a small room with a mirror on one wall and a small table in the center with two chairs. It was obviously an interrogation room.

Selina hoped that she was here to talk to a lawyer about an upcoming parole hearing, but she couldn't help but feel paranoid. The guard ushered her to the table and then stood at the door to wait for who ever had come to see her. Selina took her seat and started tapping her fingers impatiently waiting, until finally a tall middle aged man with a fancy expensive suite, strode through the door.

He was obviously a lawyer, a very handsome lawyer. Selina smiled, he was certainly a sight for sore eyes. Sure there were male guards, but they were all ugly plus they were a bunch of jerks. Selina tried to be as sweet as possible but sometimes it was a struggle. But this handsome lawyer sent shivers down her spine. Being confined for two years with a bunch women and lunatics truly did something to a person.

The handsome lawyer returned her smile as he sat down across from her, "Ms. Kyle, I'm your attorney Kadin Grey. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Please Mr. Grey call me Selina!" She continued to smile as she put out her hand. Mr. Grey laughed a little as he took her offered hand and shook it.

"Well if you insist on being called Selina, then I must insist that you call me Kadin!"

Selina laughed too, Kadin Grey was just as much a flirt as she was. "Alright Kadin it is. Now what can I get for you Kadin. I'm sure you didn't come here just to have a pleasant chat with me!"

"As enjoyable as you are, no I'm here on official business. I'm pleased to tell you that you have a parole hearing coming up in two days. As far as I can tell, things should go well for you. But your hearing will be a little different than the typical felon hearing. As your previous record has been grander than most, you'll be temporarily transferred back to Arkham..."

"Ugh, do I really have to go back there?" Selina made a pouty face as she rested her chin in her hands.

He chuckled at her expression, "Yes I'm afraid so, although I can understand your reluctance to return there. But like I said, it'd only be temporary. It'd be a day maybe two. Anyways, Dr. Zuleika will want to do a psychological test on you to make sure you are mentally stable" he winked at her as spoke, "then you'll go before the board as they go over you record over the last two years; which I must say is spotless. Then they'll make their decision."

"I'm glad that you're so optimistic, but what makes you so certain that I'll be granted parole? Besides my perfect record, of course."

"Those particular board members are accustomed to people, if you can call them that, like the Joker and the Penguin; who are very much a danger to society. You, Selina, were never really _dangerous_ to society. You have never threatened the citizens of Gotham, in fact there have been a few instances reported of you _saving_ people. The members of the board will definitely take this into consideration."

"So you're basically telling me that they should give me parole because I'm not a homicidal psychopath, even though I may or may not have sticky fingers and have the capability to make them millions of dollars lighter without them seeing me or hearing me...oh yes I'm real safe."

Kadin laughed again, "I wouldn't recommend you to say that in front of the board you may convince them to see it your way."

Selina smiled, "Hey I didn't say that's what I thought; that's just what I thought everyone else thought about me." Selina's smile slid off for a moment "I am trying to make this work and be a good kitty. I'm sincere in my want to be good, and most certainly ready to get out of this dungeon."

"Well that's good, makes my life easier. Make sure you express that need to the board. Now as much as I'd love to make more pleasant conversation with you, I do have a busy day before me. You have until tomorrow morning to get ready, and then in the morning you'll be transferred back to Arkham."

Kadin Grey stood up, "I will see you in a couple days. Just make sure you behave yourself today! Good day Selina."

"Yeah, good day to you too Kadin and thank you."

Kadin flashed her one more smile, then left the room. The guard stepped forward and motion for Selina to leave as well. The guard led her to the mess hall, undid her cuffs and released her.

After her news, Selina felt elated. She would finally get a chance at freedom and she was determined to not screw it up nor would she let someone else screw up her chances.

But as fortune would have it, nobody tried to screw Selina's chances. Undoubtedly they were too afraid to challenge Selina's chance at freedom, if they knew at all. The rest of the day breezed by, she spent most of her day in the library; a place full of security cameras and very few inmates. The day was a sunny one, so most of the cons had opted to go outside so there were only a few others who wanted to hit the books.

Before she knew it, it was the following morning and she was being cuffed and then escorted on to a police van. Apparently, despite Kadin Grey's enthusiasm, they still didn't trust her. There were four guards to sit with her inside the van and much to her delight, Cal was her escort.

He had met the pen guard at the outside door in the loading area and gave her a wink as she approached. The guard gave Cal the keys to Selina's cuffs and followed them unnecessarily to the van. Cal came behind her, when they came to the van doors, grabbed her by the elbows and effortlessly hoisted her up into the van and followed her in and locked her to the chains on the ground and took the seat next to her.

The other three wardens were already seated in the van and slammed the door shut immediately after Cal entered and as soon as Cal was seated the van was in motion.

It took approximately half an hour for them to go from the women's state pen to Arkham Asylum. And once again, Selina couldn't help but feel a sense of impending doom when she stepped out of the van and onto the pavement.

"Looks just as welcoming as I remember it," said Selina sarcastically. She heard Cal and a couple of the other warden's chuckle behind her. She was fairly familiar with all the Wardens and they all liked her. She had that kind of effect on handsome men.

They escorted her into the building and only Cal and another warden escorted her into the elevator. But unlike before, she wasn't escorted the maximum security but a considerably more pleasant cell.

Though it wasn't a five star hotel, it was rather grand from what she's had to sleep in for the last two years. The bed was softer, the bedding not quite so coarse and it was peacefully quiet. And the perks she had worked so hard to get in the ten months she spent in Arkham were still in place. Right on cue at lunch the warden brought her, her food.

It was the best food she'd had since she left Arkham. Well, thought Selina, I guess I'm gonna have to sit back and relax while she waited for her day to begin. One thing was for sure she'd be happy to leave this place tomorrow. Whether it was to go back to state pen or to go back to the real world, she didn't care much at the moment which it was; of course the latter was by far the most preferred.


	7. Chapter 6

sorry for the wait! Well here's another chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own Catwoman or Batman or any related DC characters.

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Only an hour after finishing her lunch, Cal came back for her. He stood in the cells doorway for a moment with a smug look on his face. Selina chuckled as she stood up and walked over to him and put out her wrist for him to put the restraints on.

"How's it going, handsome? Long time no see."

Cal straightened up and pulled the cuffs from his belt and clasped them around her wrists. Cal didn't bother to tighten them, they just sat loosely on her wrist; Selina could've slipped out of them easily.

"I don't know why they think we should even bother with these things." Selina smiled at Cal appreciatively as he continued. "Anyways, it's all has been goin' great! Trish and I are gettin' married next month!" He stepped out of the cell and motioned her to follow beside him.

"That's great, handsome! Aren't you glad you listened to me!"

Cal laughed as they walked down the corridor towards the elevator. "I sure am! I would've never thought that a babe like Trish would ever be into a guy like me. I always thought she was just one of those really nice girls!"

The whole way Cal chatted with her; filling Selina in on what she had all missed since she got transferred to the women's state pen. He only stopped when they came to the all too familiar door of Dr. Zuleika's reception room. Cal opened the door and motioned her to step in. Like before Trish sat at her big desk working busily at her tasks.

When she heard the door open she looked up and smiled as Selina walked in. Her smile brightened when she saw Cal following her in.

"Selina! What a pleasure to see you! Why don't you have a seat, Dr. Zuleika is just finishing with her last patient then she'll be right with you."

Selina smiled, "Thanks" and walked herself to the chairs while Cal perched himself on Trish's desk and started chatting with her. Somehow the girl managed to keep on working.

About five minutes later, Harvey/Two-Face came strolling out of the office. He was a rather calm mood, which meant it could only mean that Harvey was in control for the moment.

When he saw her a warm crooked smile lit his face. "Kitten! Fancy seeing you here again! I hope this means that you are here for an evaluation for a parole hearing."

"You got it handsome. I hope you've been behaving since I've left." Selina smiled at him, she felt very happy to see him in such a good mood.

"Oh, you know me. I have my good days and my bad. Today has been a really good day, and it just got better. Actually I've been on a streak for the last week. I don't think Two-Face has taken control once in over a week!"

"That's great Harvey! Keep it up, you never know; at this rate you might be able to get that brain of yours back to one piece again."

Harvey chuckled as Cal cautiously came over and strapped another pair of cuffs onto Harvey's wrist; these ones Cal made tight. Then Cal turned to Selina and removed her loose fitting cuff.

"Well you two better be off. I wouldn't want to get either of you into trouble."

Harvey gave Cal a bit of a dirty look but winked at Selina with his good side as he was ushered away by Cal. Selina continued sitting in her seat as she waited patiently for Dr. Zuleika to call her in. Once again she was left unattended by any guards. Selina hoped that this was a good sign that she was getting out.

A few minutes later the phone on Trish's desk buzzed and she picked up the phone and spoke a few words then hung up the receiver. Trish looked up and smiled at Selina.

"Dr. Zuleika is ready for you now, Selina. Just go on in."

Selina smiled at the girl and nodded her thanks and got up and walked to the door. Slowly and quietly she opened them and walked through. Like always the doctor was sitting behind her desk, rifling through various papers and making notes as she went along.

After a moment, she looked up and smiled at Selina. "Aw! Selina! It is so wonderful to see you. Please take a seat on the sofa's I'll be right with you."

Selina walked over to the couches and took her typical perch in the corner. Selina felt a little odd being here. She felt more like she had re-offended and was being dragged back to talk about things she really had no interest in. But Selina vowed to herself that she would never allow herself to be holed up in the dreary place ever again; no matter what.

Dr. Zuleika finally rose with her note pad and folder and took a seat across from Selina. Then she began her flurry of question most of them were the typical questions, giving Dr. Zuleika a feel of how things had been going thus far at the penitentiary.

An hour later, Dr. Zuleika put her pen down and studied Selina for a moment, and then she smiled.

"Things look good for you Selina. You have the trust and faith of many important; I don't think I've ever had so many recommendations for parole from so many people."

"I hope you're right doctor. You can only cage a cat for so long before it becomes restless and tries something foolish. Cage's don't sit well with me, I'm not the sort of person who sits around and watches as life flies by. The only reason I'm still here is because I genuinely want to change and I needed to pay for my past sins."

"Selina, you are a genuinely a good person. Your compassion for humanity runs deep, and I strongly suggest you pursue a field that you can use compassion. You have special talents, Selina! Use them for the good humanity!"

"Thank you Doctor, I'll do my best to follow your advice; I truly will."

"I know you will Selina. I believe you when you say you want to change. Some would call me a fool for believing, but I've counselled my share of the worse psychopaths and chronic liars to know when someone is lying to me.

"Our session here is done. I will submit my review, and you shall find out your fate shortly. Hopefully it's for the best."

"Thank you again, Doctor."

Selina stood and walked out of the office, were Cal waited to escort her back to her cell.

Selina spent the rest of the day confined in her cell. It reminded her of the ten painful months she'd spent here. Only now she didn't get the two hours of freedom, but at least; if things went well, she'd out of before the end of the week.

The next morning Selina was awoken by a guard knocking on her door. Selina rolled out of bed as the guard came in carrying here breakfast. The guard set it on the small beside her bed then turned to her.

"I was instructed to tell you that your hearing is in an hour. Your lawyer would like to speak with you beforehand. He should be here in half an hour or so, so be ready."

The guard tipped his hat and locked her in her cell again. She knew that guard, thought Selina. She grabbed the tray he had left behind, as she tried to recall his name. It was a popular name, a name you hear all the time. She started picking through her breakfast. It was bacon, a good looking omelette and a slightly over done toast. Was it Brad? No...Barrett...no that was wrong too. Brent, yes that was it!

Satisfied that she'd successfully recalled the guard's name, she quickly finished her breakfast and straightened herself out as well as she could. With her hair brushed and face washed she felt a lot more awake and more like herself; now if only she could ditch the ugly orange jump suit.

Selina went about stretching her stiff limbs while she waited for Kadin Grey to show his face. While she stretched thought of the months she spent here and didn't know how she managed. Between being driven nuts by her fellow inmates and being unable to do any sort exercise, she didn't know how she did it and knew that she couldn't tolerate doing it again. She didn't care what happened in the future, she wasn't coming back here again; no matter what.

After about forty-five minutes, Kadin Grey finally walked into her cell. Selina had been sitting on the ground waiting impatiently for the hearing not knowing what to do to make the time go by faster, when he finally walked through the cell door.

"Selina!" He said with a big smile as she stood up to greet him. "You are looking great today!"

Selina returned the smile as she brushed herself off. "Thank you Kadin. You're lookin' not bad yourself."

Kadin chuckled and rubbed his chin. "Thank you. Anyways I thought I should let you know how things are going to proceed so nothing catches you off guard. First they are going to go over your past offense, ask some questions. Answer them as honestly as possible without incriminating yourself. Then they are going to talk to come 'experts' and evaluate whether you are sane and rehabilitated or if you are still a danger to society. Then they are going to let you speak for yourself on why you think you should be released on parole."

"Sounds easy enough, to me. I hope you've maintained your former confidence in eligibility for parole."

"Oh yes. I checked and re-checked your file. Everything seems solid on paper. You've just got to convince everyone else that you're as dependable as the papers suggest."

"That shouldn't be too hard either."

"Ha ha your confidence is very reassuring." Kadin turned around and looked outside the cell. "Guard, Ms. Kyle is ready to escorted to her hearing."

Kadin stepped back from the door as the guard came through with a set of cuffs. It was the same guard who had delivered her breakfast earlier. The guard cuffed her tightening them tighter then Cal had but they were still loose enough that she could easily slip out of them.

Kadin looked down at her wrist's a moment. Apparently there loose fit hadn't passed his notice. A moment later he smiled. "You might want to tighten those before we enter the board room."

The guard smiled sheepishly, "Yes sir."

Kadin turned and walked out of the cell and the guard motioned her to follow. She followed him through the twisting and turning halls and up an elevator before they finally stopped at huge set of rather grand door. She'd seen grander but in this place it stuck out. The guard tightened her cuffs and then Kadin pushed through the doors.

The room they enter into was reminiscent of a court room, with a large and high sitting desk at the front of the room that took up the entire wall. Behind the desk sat six people that Selina assume were the review board members. She each one of them bore their eyes into her as they walk to the desk where Kadin motioned her to take a seat.

Selina tried to be as passively sweet as possible. Like it was her natural aura not something that she was trying to put on.

Then the review started. Their reiteration of her pasted crimes was surprisingly short. They knew even less then she thought they knew. This caused her to have even more hope. She answered her questions confidently and like she had always had. And just as Kadin had suggested the parade of experts and professionals passed through and gave their opinion on whether she should be released on parole. All but one said that she was stable and no longer a danger to society. The one who testified against her was a guard from the state pen, who had had it out for her since she'd gotten there. His evidence against her wasn't really all that incriminating against her.

The time finally came when it was finally her turn to be able to speak. Selina stood up from the seat she'd been sitting in for over half an hour.

"Thank your viewing my case for parole. I won't take too much more of your time, I'm sure you are all very busy people. Never did what I did for greed. I started stealing to survive then, I started doing it for the animals I love so much and for the longest time that's why I did it. I'm not try to condone what I've done, I just want you to understand. I realize now that there's just some many other ways I can help my animals that still within the law. I deeply regret my actions of the past but I promise I will never do it again. I plan on making up for my past and I intend on following through on that promise. Thank you for hearing me out."

Selina took her seat while Kadin addressed the court. After a few words the board members all stood and went to a room just behind them to make their decision. Selina and Kadin waited where they were while the board members stewed over their decision. It was the longest hour Selina had ever been through and it was a great relief when they finally walked through that door.

All but one took their seat behind the desk. The one that remained standing was the one that had done the most talking; she was a rather striking middle aged woman who oozed authority from every pore.

"Miss Kyle upon review your case we have unanimously voted that you shall be released with a one year parole." Selina breathed a sigh of relief at her words. "Your case is refreshing. It isn't often, here at Arkham, that special cases such as yours to be so clean cut. I pray that you don't reoffend because next time, Miss Kyle, we won't be so kind.

"You will be given living quarters for you to start off with. You will also be given a job. If you do not like either your new job or apartment you are welcome to try and find your own. Your parole officer will explain everything too you. Congratulations miss Kyle, you are a free woman."

"Thank you." Selina meant every word.

"Case dismissed."

Kadin stood and motioned the guard forward. As the guard came forward Selina stood and offered her wrist's too the guard; he promptly removed the cuff from her wrists and she let out a grateful sigh.

Selina and Kadin walked for the exit and as they passed through the doors Kadin took the lead, leading her down a different set of halls. They came to a stop in front a considerably less grand door. Kadin opened the door and motioned her in.

The room she entered was a small office. Kadin rounded one of three desks and started rifling through drawer.

"Take a seat Selina. Before you can fly this coupe, we've got some papers to fill out and an apartment to assign. Normally we don't give our parolee's an option but for you Selina I'll make an exception."

Selina sat down; suddenly she realized that they hadn't been follow by a guard. She smiled as the news finally started to sink in. She was free! She still couldn't believe it. She never thought the day would actually come; she had hoped desperately it would but it never seemed like it would be a reality.

Finally Kadin found what he was looking for and flopped a pile of papers in front of Selina.

"Well I'll let you start these while I find those files on available apartments. The job thing is for you Parole Officer to do and that may take a couple of days."

He crossed the room and started rifling again through a filing cabinet. After about a minute or two he returned to the desk with thin folder. He took a seat behind his desk and waited patiently for Selina to finish.

She went as fast as she could but also tried to be thorough, she didn't want to have to return here because of some screwed up paper work. When she final handed it to Kadin, he handed the file to her in exchange.

"There should be about ten apartments in there. They aren't anything fancy but some are better than others. I'm afraid that none of them are pet friendly, but like Mrs. Anthony pointed out; you are welcome to find your own place when you can afford it. You are expected to pay rent and all your own bills. Arkham just provides a place to start."

"Thank you Kadin, for everything."

"Oh I did nothing, you did it all Selina. Now look through those apartments and let's get you out of this dreary place."

"That sounds great. Am I leaving today then?"

"Yup. And anything that is returnable that the police seized during their investigation will be returned to you at the front desk and there will be a cab waiting to take you to your apartment which is where you will meet your parole officer."

Selina nodded in acknowledgement, and started scanning the apartment descriptions. Most of them were no more than glorified broom closets. They were all in the lower side of the city were all the scum was, not that Selina wasn't use to that but she was hoping for middle class.

Finally she chose the only one with a full sized kitchen and living room. Over the past two years, Selina had come to hate small rooms and she didn't intend to live in one anymore.

Kadin smiled at her choice but said nothing. He reached for the phone on his desk and dialled a number. After a brief conversation and what sounded like the address to her new apartment he finally hung the phone up and stood.

"That was your new parole officer. I thought I'd let him know you were on your way and where you were going. Come, I'll escort you to the front desk."

Selina stood and together they left the office.

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Once again i apologized for any spelling or grammar errors. I hope you enjoy! If i flubbed up anywhere's please tell me and i'll fix it. Please R&R!


	8. Chapter 7

Sorry for the lateness of this. I know I haven't posted in like forever. Truth is i've totally lost my groove. I can't seem to find my motivation anymore, but i'm trying really hard! Most of this chapter has been done for a while, I just had to finish it. It was all thanks to my recent reviews and people who favorited me! Thanks! I'll try and get another chapter pumped out as quickly as possible, but you know me!

-Shockra

Disclaimer: I don't own Batman or any related DC characters

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Selina took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Freedom, she still couldn't believe it. Selina looked behind her back, she half expected guards, cops or worse...Batman; to come busting through the front door of her little apartment and drag her back to prison. Her little apartment was just as shabby as the pictures made it seem. It was small, and dirty. Whoever the previous residents had been, they were slobs. Slob, thought Selina, the living definition of her Parole Office. He was big, fat and sweaty; he kind of reminder her of a taller version of the Penguin. He seemed nice enough though.

Selina continued to stand by the open window as she breathed in the fresh air and debated what she wanted to do next. She had no phone yet and no vehicle to transport herself anywhere's. So the first thing she did was clean up the trash off the counters and floor, and then wiped them down; the sanitizing and refreshing of the apartment would have to wait until she had money to buy things. Then she took a long and hot shower; she relished in the privacy of having her own place.

Selina sat on the very edge of her very much worn couch and contemplated what she was to do now. She had filled out a form for her Parole Officer stating what she was all talented in. She had a foot up in that department, compared to her fellow delinquents in Arkham. Most of them, with the exception of a slim few, had any usable talents in the real world. Selina had a Doctrine in Zoology and was skilled in most office jobs. But she didn't hold her breath that she'd get any really good jobs...unless; no she couldn't. She'd already asked too much of that good man. Speaking of that good man, Selina looked around for a phone, and then let out a frustrated sigh when she remembered she didn't have a phone yet.

She had the total of twenty dollars and a pocket full of quarters. Selina sighed again, well she could use a payphone and pick up the few groceries she could get with twenty bucks; which isn't much these days. Selina stood up again and stretched, grabbing her apartment keys while she left the building; making sure to lock her apartment behind her. It was just past noon so even in this part of town, it was buzzing with activity. Selina stopped as she stepped out of the apartment building, she was still having problems with that fact that she was out of jail; legally. Selina finally composed herself and surveyed the street to see if she could see a payphone nearby, but there was none to be had. Lucky for Selina, she knew this apart of town and knew approximately where the closest store was where she could buy some food. Five blocks later, Selina finally found that payphone and decided to stop and make that call.

The number she wanted to call wasn't listed, and she began to worry as she stood there staring at the phone trying to recall the number; then just like that it popped back in her head and she popped in her quarter and she dialled. Much to her delight and relief a familiar older man's voice answered.

"Hello?" His voice was still the kind yet proper British voice she remembered fondly. She hadn't gotten to know Alfred too well, but he was an important person to Bruce and he was often around.

"Hello, Alfred?" She asked.

"Yes Madam. Might I ask who is calling?"

Selina smiled. "Alfred, this is Selina Kyle. I'm not sure if you'd remember me."

"Ms. Kyle? Of course I remember you! How are you my dear? I do hope you are well."

"Thank you, Alfred. Yes I'm fine. I just got released on parole today."

"That's wonderful, Ms. Kyle! I am so pleased hear that! I suppose you have called to talk to Mr. Wayne."

Selina smiled, she was shocked at how genuinely happy Alfred seemed to be. "Yes Alfred, if that's possible."

"Yes of course, Ms. Kyle. Mr. Wayne is always happy to receive your calls, if you shall give me one moment, I shall fetch him for you."

"That would be wonderful Alfred, thank you."

The line went quiet as Alfred put her on hold. And for the longest time she sat there waiting, she'd almost decided to hang up and call back later when the phone was finally picked up again. She supposed living in such a big house; it took a while to find somebody.

"Hello?" This voice was deeper and younger, and by the sound of it; had just gotten out of bed. In a way, reminding her and adding another thing that confirmed her suspicions about this man.

"Hello Bruce, did I get you out of bed?"

There was a brief moment of silence. "You know I want to lie and say no but I do not think you would believe me, would you."

Selina laughed, "No I wouldn't. It must be nice to be able to sleep in past noon."

He chuckled tiredly and heard him muffle a yawn. "Being semi-responsible in running a business is tough work you know! Then there are all the parties and social functions! I live a tough life you know." She laughed as he was being blatantly sarcastic. Something he used to do quite frequently but for some reason, all his 'rich friends' believed him to be serious and whole heartedly agreed with such type remarks.

Selina laughed again, remembering how pleasant he was to be around. "So did Alfred tell you?"

"No, tell me what?"

"They let me out on parole." Selina smiled for what seemed like the millionth time today. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been this happy about anything.

"Selina, that is wonderful! I am really proud of you! I suppose that means you want Isis back."

Selina chuckled then sighed, "Oh I'd love to have her back! But the apartment I've been set up with isn't pet friendly so I'm gonna have to ask you to keep her a little longer."

"Oh that will not be a problem, Selina. But I am sure I could help you with that if you would like. I could get you a better place to live."

Selina sighed, _very_ tempted to accept but she wanted to see if she could do this normal person thing on her own. "That's sweet of you Bruce, it really is. But I want to do this on my own. Besides, I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself."

"Oh, I do not doubt that. I do not imagine you have gotten a job yet, have you?"

Selina sighed; she knew what was coming next. Her pride wanted to say no, but her near empty apartment screamed yes. On top of that, she wouldn't have some lame job as a cashier at some retail store making minimum wage.

"No, not yet. My parole officer is putting me out there for a job. I gave him all my skills and qualifications."

"Then you can tell him to stop looking." Bruce's voice was firm, she knew he wasn't going to let her argue on this one but she had too anyways.

"Bruce you don't have to do that!"

"Stop, Selina. You and I both know that whatever your parole officer can get you will be a waste of your talents. I just so happen to know a team of researchers looking for skilled assistants to help them in their research. And here is the best part Selina, they specialize in big cats. Right now they are trying to help solve the problem of repopulating the tiger population in several parts of the world. They are not directly tied in with Wayne Enterprise, but we are their biggest supporter. I am positive I can get you a position there."

Selina sighed, and remained silent for a moment. It was even better then she had expected, even from Bruce Wayne. Of course he'd get her in there; he was Bruce Wayne after all. After a moment she decided.

"Fine Bruce, you win. I'll take the job, that'd make my life much easier."

"Don't sound so down, Selina. If it makes you feel any better, with your inability to travel; they will probably not give you the best job. But in time, I am sure you will be running the show." He chuckled to himself, sounding very pleased.

"I'm sorry, Bruce. I am gratefully. Really I am. You know me and my pride."

"Fortunately I do. Now we need to celebrate your impending new job and you getting released on parole! You are coming to the Manor for Supper." Selina rolled her eyes, so typical. That was something to add to her mental list that disproved her theory.

"Bruce, that isn't necessary."

"Well then, think of it as a reason to come see Isis, and eat some real food. I do not imagine the food in prison was too great."

Selina laughed, yes real food would be nice, and some wine...and Isis. "I will take that as a yes. Great I will come pick you up!"

"Don't be ridiculous Bruce! This isn't exactly the best place in town to be driving down the street with your Lamborghini! It's dangerous down here!"

Bruce chuckled, "Trust me, I would not come down there in a Lamborghini, I promise I will come with something with less flash. I know well enough what it is like down there or in that area anyways. I help out at the soup kitchen quite frequently and Leslie has her clinic down there and I come and check in on her all the time."

"Who's Leslie? You know what never mind. I don't think I want to know."

Bruce laughed, "It is nothing like that. Leslie is a family friend, she is a retired surgeon. She went to medical school with my father and she has been about as close as Alfred was, when I was growing up."

From behind Selina there came a knock on the phone booth door causing her to jump, she turned to see a middle aged woman indicating her to hurry up so she could use the phone. Selina nodded her head and waved at the woman.

"Look, Bruce I've got to go." Selina gave him her address and said goodbye. Giving the woman an irritated glare as she left the booth, she continued up the street to a small convenience store. Entering the store she looked around for the food. The store was a sad looking place. The shelves were half empty and the store generally looked dilapidated. She grabbed a basket and walked down the aisle and grabbed what she could. In the end it was like what she thought, twenty buck's didn't go far.

By the time Selina made it back to her apartment, it was already four o'clock. She put away her few items that she'd managed to buy, and decided on a second shower. This time though with a better shampoo and conditioner that actually left her hair soft. She missed her old wardrobe. The police had seized it all, assumed to be paid for with stolen money so she couldn't have it back. Now all she had was two pairs of jeans, a pencil skirt, a pair of slacks, three t-shirts and a blouse; how boring. Already Selina was tempted to return to her old lifestyle, just for a decent wardrobe.

Selina sighed; she wasn't like that anymore though. So she grabbed the pencil skirt and blouse, and styled her hair to the best of her ability to make up for the lack of attractive clothes. By the time all was said and done, she still had half an hour left before Bruce was supposed to arrive. She walked back to her window and stared out it once more. While she stood there looking out the window, Selina evaluated the theory that had been going through her brain over the last several months. Originally she had thought the idea ridiculous and impossible. But the more she thought of it, the more things started fall into place. Selina thought she might've figured out who Batman really was; and the thought both excited her and left her uncertain.

It seemed so unlikely, that it worked. Bruce could be a bit of a flake sometimes; either being really late for things or not showing up at all. Or there were the occasions when he just seemed to disappear when there was danger around; although one could also suppose that the man was a coward and just disappeared to hide...but no, Bruce was no coward. She'd seen him do some really brave things. The man most certainly had the money to fund all the toys that Batman had and there was a certain time of Bruce's life that no one knows anything about. She'd asked him about it once, all he said to her was that he'd been 'soul searching'. But then there were things like their personalities, Bruce was a happy and easy going guy; Batman was not...but the sarcasm that both of them had was so similar and Batman could be mischievous sometimes, if you caught him in the right mood. They were both about the same height and same frame, but could it really be possible? Well, she would have to try and figure that out tonight. It'd be the first time she'd seen the man in two years and maybe with this new thought floating through her head, she'd see things that she'd missed in the past.

Apparently Selina had lost track of time, for she noticed a rather nice car driving down the street and stop in front of her apartment building. Truth be told it was just as likely to have been some mobster but since she was expecting him, she knew it had to be Bruce. This car didn't scream expensive or fast like most of the cars he drove, but knowing how much the man liked his cars; it was at least fast, another similarity between Bruce and Batman. Selina wasn't ready to let the man see the inside of this dingy apartment, so she rushed to the door grabbed her purse and keys and dashed down the stairs and met him as he walked up to the apartment. He smiled when he saw her coming through the glass door and opened it for her as she walked through.

"Selina!" He said with his large Playboy smile.

"Hello Bruce." Selina returned his smile, and stood on her toes so she could give him a kiss on the cheek. Selina hooked her arm around his and they walked off to his car. Once again, ever the gentleman, he held the car door open for her as she climbed inside and waited as he walked around and climbed in. As they drove along, Selina thought of another thing to add to her list; he was a fast driver but a reasonably safe one.

It took Bruce about half the time it would have taken Selina to get to the manor, and she wasn't a slow driver either. Instead of parking in front of the manor, Bruce pulled inside his insanely large garage...if you could call it that. She knew the man loved his cars, but this she'd call an obsession. She wasn't going to count but Bruce's tastes weren't just with the really fancy fast cars like Lamborghini's, Aston Martins, or McLaren's; though he had many of those, he had classics like Camaro's, Mustangs and even old Buicks from the '30's. There was even motorcycle's which; Selina assumed, were more likely to be Dick Grayson's. In a far corner of the garage, there was what looked like a mechanic's station. Selina wondered if Bruce actually worked on his own cars.

"Quite the collection you've got here, Bruce. I don't think I've ever been in here."

Bruce had a wide grin on his face like a boy waiting to open his presents on Christmas. "Really? Well as you can see I fancy a good car."

Selina laughed, "You're about obsessed with cars as I am with cats. The only difference is that you can buy whatever you like."

"Hm. Well money cannot buy everything, trust me; I have tried."

Selina smiled at him as they moved out of the garage in to a large room she's never seen before, he was trying to be funny. They continued to chat as he led her to a more familiar part of the house, living room...or one of them anyways. In that living room was what she had waited two years to see, Isis.

She had been lounging comfortable on one of the sofas, and looked up when they entered the room. Isis mewed happily at their arrival; she stood up and stretched, then jumped down to the ground and jogged up to Selina. Selina bent over and picked Isis up who was now rubbing against her legs. In that moment, Selina was the happiest she has ever been since she could remember being for a very long time.

Isis purred loudly and rubbed her face against Selina's. "She seems really happy to see you Selina." Selina looked over at Bruce and smiled at him.

"Thank you so much for taking care of her Bruce."

Bruce chuckled and rubbed Isis' underneath her chin. "Oh it was a pleasure I assure you. Now if only it were this easy to make all women so happy." Selina laughed and swatted his arm.

"I will go check on supper, why don't you sit here and get reacquainted with."

Selina nodded and Bruce headed off through another door. Bruce walked through the twists and turns of the maze that he called home and eventually made it to the kitchen where Alfred was cooking supper. Also in the room was Tim leaning on the table were they would sometimes have breakfast, working on his homework. Tim was the first to notice him enter the room and was the first to speak up.

"Hey Bruce, can you take a look at this? I'm not I'm doing this right."

Bruce walked over and looked at what Tim was working on. Physic's something he was good at. Bruce looked at the work Tim had done. It was pretty complex actually for his grade level, it actually surprised him but what he was doing was right.

"They make you do that in high school now days?"

Tim laughed, "No not really. I think my teacher's trying to prove he's smarter than the rest of us kids. He challenged us to solve this equation, but I don't think he actually expects us to do it and most of the kids wouldn't even try. But I figured I could, am I right?"

"Yes, it's right. If he doesn't agree then tell him to call me."

"He'll probably think I cheated somehow, but whatever. So how's you date goin' with Ms. Kyle? I still can't believe you let her in the house!"

"Don't be absurd master Tim! Ms. Kyle would never take anything from Master Bruce, even before she cleaned up her act! Though, if it was anybody else's house I would not be quite so certain."

"I believe she is actually serious about trying to stay on the straight and narrow. Selina's just made some really bad decision in her life. She one of the few criminals with her status that I actually respect and believe in."

Tim leaned back and laughed, "Plus you got the hots for her. I've heard what Dick and Barbra say about you and her."

"Oh and what's that?" Bruce crossed his arms and gave Tim a serious look. Dick didn't really hate Selina he just didn't trust her...for good reason, Barbra just plain ole hate Selina; thought that no matter what Selina did she was trying to manipulate him.

"Um, never mind." Tim quickly looked back at his paper and pretended to work real hard.

"On a different note, Master Bruce; supper is nearly ready. You should escort Ms. Kyle to the dining room."

Bruce nodded and left the room and worked his way back to the living room where he'd left Selina with Isis.

* * *

Once again please point out any of my horrible spelling/grammar errors. I don't always read over my own work, and even if i do i tend to miss a lot of mistakes. R & R are always appreciated. Constructive critism is also welcome. Throw some ideas at me, maybe it'll get this sorry butt in gear, lol.

Thank-E!


	9. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Batman or any character related to the DC world

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Selina walked up the hall to her apartment. It had been a pleasant evening; Bruce had gotten her caught up on all the current events of every sort, although he seemed unusually out of the loop when it came to his affluent counter parts. She hadn't quite gotten what she was looking for though, nothing that proved her theory but also never got anything that disproved her theory either.

Selina stopped in front of her door and pulled out her keys when a voice behind her said, "Hey baby, what's happening?"

Selina put a hand to her head as she felt a headache coming on. Reluctantly she turned around and faced the twit. When she finally saw the man, she couldn't help but burst out laughing. The man, if you could call him that was five foot nothing, scrawny with a greasy and pimply face holding a four inch switch blade.

"Hey don't laugh lady! I'm the one with the blade!" He thrust it at Selina's face trying to prove his point.

Selina smiled seductively, which was a bit of a chore considering how repulsive she found this little weasel to be. "You don't want to be doing that, _Handsome_." Selina said the last word with extreme sarcasm.

"Oh? Why not? I'm the one with the knife! Now hand over the wallet and jewellery!"

"Well for one thing, _handsome_. I really don't have any money or anything of value. You see I just got out of jail, do you want to know why I was in jail?"

The weasel shifted around uncomfortably. "Why?"

"I was a thief, a rather...prosperous one. And I was prosperous because of this!" Selina kicked the knife out the weasel's hand then grabbed his wrist and spun his around and slammed him hard into the wall face first.

"Maybe you should get a real job there, _handsome_. You suck at this! Now run forest, run!"

Selina released him, and with a squeak he took off down the hall. Selina rolled her eyes as she watched him disappear. Some people just weren't cut out for the lifestyle. If the weasel nearly pissed himself when a girl in a skirt can beats him senseless, she'd imagine he _would_ probably wet himself and then pass out if he ever went face to face with the bat, not that Batman would ever waste his breath on him. She laughed at the thought.

Selina turned the key that had remained in the lock when she had been interrupted and turned the key and let herself into her apartment. She dropped the keys onto the counter, locked the door then flopped onto the couch. It was nearly midnight already, she didn't really feel especially tired but she would have to get up early to start her new job. Bruce had moved quickly, they had accepted her immediately without as much as a job interview.

Selina put her hand on the arm of the couch and then put her chin on her hands and stared out of the window. She stared at the city skyline and desperately wished to be out there again, but she could screw up on her first day out of prison. She didn't care much what other people thought of her but she wanted to do this for herself. Selina huffed and stood up, finally deciding to do some stretches and walked off to the shower. When she was done, she curled up in bed and amazingly she almost immediately drifted off to sleep.

Selina awoke to a rather irritating sound off to her left; reluctantly she opened her eyes and saw that the sound was coming from her alarm clock. The next second she bolted upright. She hammered the button on the alarm clock and stretched as she stood up. She quickly got dressed, once again she dawned her blouse and decided to put on her slacks instead of her skirt. She hoped to get paid quickly so she could buy more clothes because this was really pathetic and embarrassing for her.

After quickly styling her hair and makeup she grabbed a snack and headed out the door. There were no taxis in this end of town; it was just too dangerous so she had to hop on a bus that took her to a safer end of town. From there she hailed a taxi and it took off to work. The taxi came to a stop at the front door; Selina paid the driver with her remaining cash and stepped out. She straightened herself out then walked into the building, she walked up to the reception desk where an aged woman sat typing away at her computer.

"Excusing me ma'am, I'm Selina Kyle."

"Aw yes, Ms. Kyle. Please follow me."

The secretary got up and ushered Selina through the lobby and into an elevator. Instead of going up, they went down. As they entered the elevator, the secretary turned and smiled at Selina.

"I should introduce myself, I'm Patricia Adler but you can call me Patty." The elevator doors dinged, "Right this way, Ms. Kyle."

"Call me Selina."

Patty smiled as she walked through the elevator doors. When Selina stepped out of the elevator her eyes practically popped out of her head. Before her was a high tech lab with what had to be top of the line equipment, as they walked through the lab Selina saw multiple offices off to the sides of the lab along the wall and hallways that lead off in different directions. There was multiple scientists' milling about, most barely stopping to talk. When they reached the end of the laboratory Patty opened a fancy wooden door and stepped in.

"Dr. Reid, Selina Kyle is here."

Patty stepped out of the way to let Selina through. Before her sitting behind a huge desk was a petite young woman probably no older than 23. Her chocolate brown hair pulled up into a tight bun on the back of her head. When she looked up she had a brilliant pair of blue eyes but a serious face.

"Thank you Mrs. Adler, Ms. Kyle please take a seat."

Patty turned and left closing the doors behind her. Selina stepped around and sat down in a plush arm chair. Dr. Reid rummaged through a stack of papers that sat on a cabinet behind her desk. Finally she pulled out what she was looking for and placed it on the desk in front of her.

"It must be nice Ms. Kyle to have powerful friends like Mr. Wayne."

"I didn't ask him to do this for me; he took it upon himself to do this. I promise you Dr. Reid, I won't let you down. I'll work butt off!"

"I certainly hope so, Ms. Kyle. Judging from your resume and past experience in this field, you should do well."

Dr. Reid went over all the research they were covering, and what Selina would be working on in the first few months. It was minor most of what she'd be working on but the pay was really good and she really liked what this company was about. Bruce had really found her the perfect job. Even Dr. Reid, though young and stiff really didn't seem all that bad. She was willing to give Selina a chance despite her criminal record.

"And here's the best part, especially someone in your position. You get a $2000 signing bonus, a company vehicle, and a better apartment. The car isn't anything fancy but it'll get you from point a to point b, and the apartment won't be anything special either but it'll accept pets and it's in a much safer end of town so we don't have to worry about you getting mugged or murdered."

"That would be wonderful thank you."

"You'll have to put up with your current apartment for another day or two. I haven't quite had a chance to set the apartment up yet but when you leave today, you'll be able to pick up the keys to the car and your signing bonus from Mrs. Adler at the front desk. Now if you would follow me I'll get you set up at a work station."

They both stood up and walked out of her office.

Selina had spent the rest of her day do research and running various labs. Some of it she had forgotten but quickly relearned. When her day was over she went back up to the lobby and met Patty at the reception desk.

"Ah Selina, how was your day?"

"It was a little challenging, but relish challenges."

"Oh I'm sure there will be more to come. That's the thing about science whether you deal with machines or nature it's always changing. Now, my dear, here's the keys to your company vehicle, and here's your cheque. If you're quick you should be able to make it to the bank before it closes. There's one two blocks from here." Patty gave Selina the address and handed over the keys and her cheque. Selina nodded and headed back to the elevator and keyed in basement level 3 where the car park was.

When she stepped off the elevator, she walked down the aisles of cars to where Patty said her car would be. Dr. Reid hadn't been lying when she said it wasn't anything fancy, but still it was fairly new and in good condition just a really plain black hatchback.

Selina slid behind the wheel of her new car and turned the ignition over. She drove out of the car park and down the street to the bank that Patty had spoken about. She made it there with plenty of time before the bank closed, she waited in line until she finally made it to the front and asked to open up an account (all her old accounts had been closed...that they'd found but none of them had any money in them anyways) she wanted this one to be legit and in her name.

A man with salt and pepper hair led her to a desk, and motioned her to sit down. He asked questions and she answered giving him all the information required. The man was a little reluctant to open an account but after being very persuasive and invoking the name of Bruce Wayne (the man didn't even bother to call to confirm, what an idiot she should tell Bruce) he finally opened the account, depositing her cheque and giving her a temporary debit card.

Just as Selina stood up to leave, there was a terrible commotion by the front door and some people screeched and yelled. Selina knew immediately what those sounds meant; they were practically Gotham's anthem. Selina grunted in frustration at her bad luck, she'd been out of jail for two days and she'd already been attacked twice. A man in a ski mask (how typical and unoriginal) grabbed her by the arm and pointed his gun at the man behind the desk.

"You two this way!" He growled

Everyone was herded into the main lobby, their captors all had assault rifles military issue but these goons were anything but military. The acted more liked a bunch of gangsters, which they probably were. Selina sized them up as they scurried about emptying cash registers, and threatening the management to open up the vault. Rupert Thorn was more subtle then this, he dealt mostly in drugs, and owned a fair share of strip clubs. Now the Gaseti's this was their style. They liked busting caps and threatening people, getting people to pay them for their protection etc.

One of the men caught her staring. "What are you staring at gorgeous?" Selina was really tempted to do something but that would be suicide, and these boys would have no qualms about shooting you or maiming you. Selina settled with just leering.

The man winked at her then pulled out a walkie-talkie, "You boys done down there?"

He waited a moment but there was no reply. "Frank? Anybody?"

Still there was no reply. He nodded in the direction of two guys and they head off down a hall. That left winky and two other goonies. The odds were starting to look better but they were too far apart. Three minutes passed and the robber's time was running ou, if they wanted to get out before the cops got there. They had maybe four minutes before they would have company but no one came back down the hall. Winky roared in frustration.

"That's it take the cash we took from the registers, we're leaving. Something not right is going on here and I don't care to find out what!"

The goonies grabbed the bags and started off for the door. Winky kept his gun trained on the security guards as he slowly backed up. Then in a blink of an eye a dark figure dropped on the two goonies knocking them unconscious. Winky wheeled around quickly aiming his rifle at who Selina quickly identified as Batman, acting on instinct Selina kicked Winky in the back of the knees bringing him down and kicked as hard as she could at the rifle. Winky was a big man, she'd managed to bring him to his knees, but he managed to hold on to his rifle, he looked at her with a look of sheer rage. He brought his rifle back up and was about to shoot her but Batman got there first. Batman grabbed his head from behind and smashed Winky's head into his knee, instantly knocking the guy unconscious. Batman kicked the gun out of Winky's reach, and then looked back at Selina. She could tell he was studying her, Selina only smiled at him and waved at him. The look he gave her was one of warning like, 'you behave yourself or else'.

He looked at all the other hostages. They were all looking at him; some of them looked at him in shock and awe others in sheer terror like they'd almost preferred the other guys. Selina knew that as intimidating as he was, even in broad daylight he looked intimidating she almost thought he looked scarier, she still preferred him.

"Everyone outside." He said in that low growly voice.

They all jumped to their feet and ran for the exit just as sirens started getting closer. He looked down at Winky and started binding his hands. "That means you too, Selina." He said as put a set of cuffs on the man.

"Nice to see you too, Handsome." She tried to study him but he turned and headed off in the direction of the other two he'd flattened. She could see him much better now than she's ever been able too. There encounters were always late at night or in building with poor lighting. She could definitely see Bruce Wayne in that face from what she could see. It made her all tingly.

"Now Selina!" She smiled and meandered her way to the exit as a bunch of cops busted through the door with their guns raised. One cop grabbed her and ushered her through the door.

By the time she had gotten home it was late at night. All the hostages had to put in their testimonies on the events, there was about twenty of them, so it took a while for them to all get processed and Selina happened to be the last one interviewed. Then she was given a speech from a head doctor, she'd seen way too many of those in the last two years, the doctor recommend she go through a week's worth of sessions which Selina declined. Needless to say, having her life threatened wasn't all that traumatizing she'd been through much worse. When all was said and done it was already midnight before she got home.

When she opened her door and turned on the lights, she nearly jumped out of her skin when the big bad Bat was standing only three feet away from her. She put a hand on her rapidly beating heart and closed the door, locking it behind her.

"Do you really _have_ to do that, handsome? I mean I expected a visit from you eventually. But seriously could you do it without giving me a heart attack?" The corner of his mouth quirked up in a quick smirk, but it disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

He stood there silently as pulled off her shoes from her aching feet and put the keys down on the counter. He looked really tired; she could see it in his eyes. He stood as proud as ever but she knew him well enough. Even the Dark Knight got tired every once in a while.

"What were you doing there at the bank?" He finally asked.

"You don't normally ask stupid questions, handsome. What do you think?" He glared at her; yup his patience was rather short tonight.

She sighed as she walked around and sank onto her couch. "Opening an account and depositing a cheque from, before you ask where, my new job. I'm sure you knew all that already, handsome."

"You did not need to try and take that man down, I had it handled."

Selina put her face in her hands, she was really tired too. "Well _excuse_ me for trying to help, handsome!"

"You almost got yourself killed!" He sounded very irritated now. This side of Batman made it hard to believe that he and Bruce were one in the same.

"Where you worried about me? Oh how sweet, handsome!" There was nothing but silence.

Then from the window he said, "I do not need your death on my hands." She turned her head to make a retort but he'd already disappeared like he always did. Selina stood up and stretched then lumbered her way over to the shower.

Batman put a hand to his head as he sat in his chair in front of his large computer. Selina was right, he was way more worried about her then he had a right to be. He needed to disconnect from her both as Bruce Wayne and Batman, he really wanted to believe in her but Selina was a free spirit and someone who had a hard time breaking habits.

He shook his head; he didn't have time to think about her right now. There has been a lot of activity going on in the city recently, the kind that gave him a really bad feeling in his gut. That bank robbery this afternoon was only one in the string of incidents that had been happening. It wasn't just one mobster behaving worse than normal but all of them, small time gangs too were overly active. Batman had a feeling that a new crime boss was in town and he was controlling over seventy-five percent of the gangs on the streets these days.

It's been a month since he first started seeing a pattern, he'd been shaking down all his notorious squealers and getting some tough nuts to talk but no one was giving him anything worth of value. No one seemed to know this person's name, whether it was a male or female, local or foreign, nothing. He couldn't get close to any of the mob bosses, they were being especially illusive. As for the gangsters, they generally took their orders from the mafia and individual or small time crooks took their orders from the gangsters.

He had help from Nightwing too, but he was getting as far as Batman was and neither Robin nor Batgirl were getting any interesting leads either. Gordon had absolutely nothing for him either, he had cops going undercover but they either couldn't get in deep enough or they'd end up dead.

Batman flipped through his notes for the millionth time trying to catch something maybe he'd missed but nothing was popping out to him. Frustrated Batman stood up deciding on going on another patrol. Hours ago he'd sent Batgirl home and Robin to bed, they were pretty much dead on their feet and would get themselves killed if they'd went out again. He'd almost made it to his car when Alfred came down the stairs.

"Sir, you cannot possibly be going on patrol again! It is four in the morning! You have been up for over thirty-six hours; you must get some sleep, not to mention the meeting you have in six hours!"

Batman rubbed his chin and sighed, "Alright Alfred you win."

* * *

Sorry if there's tons of mistakes and if some sentences don't make sense. I'm uberly tired right now and its late at night I actually got this out with a reasonable amount of speed! I hope you enjoyed it please tell me what you think. R&R

Shockra


	10. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Catwoman or any related DC characters

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Bruce rubbed his eyes and tried to keep himself up right. He'd managed four hours of sleep maybe, his mind kept racing trying figure out how to continue his search. He felt a little better after his nap but still his eyes burned. Making things worse he had to sit in this meeting, it was an important meeting; he had to decide whether or not to pull the plug on a high stakes research project.

Between him and Lucius Fox they decided to go forward with the project. Bruce tried his hardest to look awake and cheerful as Lucius escorted the gentlemen out of the office, when they had left Lucius turned to Bruce.

"Are you alright, Bruce? You looked like you haven't slept at all."

Bruce smiled, "I am fine. I just have been out on too late at night. Sorry Lucius."

"That's alright Bruce, but maybe you should stay in for a few nights! I'm sure those ladies can suffer a few nights without you, Bruce."

Bruce chuckled, "Maybe, maybe not! I will see what I can do, Lucius."

Bruce said good bye to Lucius, and left the conference room. He walked to the elevator nodding as he passed by the security desk and entered. Bruce was about to jump into his new Mercedes-Benz Roadster Supersport GTR, when his cell rang. Dick Grayson name came up on his call display. Bruce sat down in his car and put his phone to his ear.

"Yes?"

"Hey Bruce. Swing by my place, I've got something you'll wanna see."

Bruce slammed the door to his Mercedes and fired up the engine. "I am just leaving the office, I should be there in a few minutes." Bruce hit the _End _button on his phone, tossing it on to the passenger seat and reversed out of his parking spot and screeched his tires as he left the parking lot.

Dick had a condo in the mid class section of town. He could easily afford a place in the more ritzier end of town, but Dick found it too stuffy and opted to get a more reasonable place. Dick operated mostly out of his condo only coming to the Batcave when he absolutely had too. For several years now Dick has been operating on his own; originally there had been a fall out between the two and Dick left, not wanting to work with him. Dick didn't always agree with the way he did things and apparently his bluntness rubbed Dick the wrong way. After a few months, Dick finally calmed down and was no longer angry with Bruce; although he still wanted to be on his own.

They still had their disagreements more often than not but they still worked together. They'd been working together now more than they've done since their initial fallout. So far no one's tried to kill the other but they've had their shouting matches...more like Dick shouting and Bruce strongly disagreeing. Hopefully Dick's call meant that he had a new lead, or better yet he had a breakthrough of some sort.

Bruce quickly pulled into a parking spot, arriving even quicker then he'd anticipated. He pulled open the doors to the apartment building and headed straight for the stairs. The building had an elevator but he could run up the stairs quicker then it'd take for him to wait for the elevator, then there was the potential for other people riding the elevator which took even more time and the thing just generally didn't move quick enough for his liking and Bruce really didn't have any patience left for machines any more.

By the time he'd reached the sixth floor which Dick lived on, he was no worse for wear his breathing just slightly elevated. He walked quickly down the short hall, to Dick's condo and let himself in. Dick stood in between rooms mid-stride drinking from a milk jug when Bruce came in. Dick gave a frustrated sigh and put the milk jug down on the end table beside him.

"Sure Bruce. Come right on in without knocking, oh and not saying 'bye' on the phone is so _not_ irritating either. How the heck did you get from Wayne Enterprises to here so quickly anyways?"

"New car. You said you had something I would want to see."

"Really, what did you get?"

Bruce leered at him, "Dick"

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed...again...over here."

Bruce followed Dick into the room that was behind his living room hidden by a false wall. This is where Dick kept all his Nightwing related things hidden. Dick led him over to where he had computer and various other electronics. Dick sat down at the desk and pointed to the screen.

"Last night Bab's and I did some surveillance on one of our A-listers. Nothing really happened last night but I had this strange feeling something might go down. So I stayed around until about an hour ago, when I caught this."

Dick played a video that had been paused on the screen. From the look of the video, Dick had perched himself nicely on top of a tall building well out of normal visual range and used a high zoom camera watch the front of what looked like was home to Rupert Thorne a big time Mafia boss who no qualms working with a...different kind of crowd.

As the tape continued to play, a limo pulled up in front the houses main doors. Dick had zoomed in on the car just as woman stepped out of the car. Bruce didn't recognize the woman but judging from how the guards and her chauffer regarded her and how quickly Thorne appeared in the door way, she was some one of some importance. The video stopped when they entered inside the house. Dick closed that window and opened up another.

"I got curious who this woman was, so I decided to see if I could get a closer look or something so I left my perch and got down closer. I found Thorne and the mystery lady in the Living Room and they were already deep in conversation. I'm afraid I'm not that great at reading lips, but I know you can. Here look at this."

Dick played the other video, it wasn't the best vantage point but probably the best available branches occasionally obstructed the view and half the time the woman was facing away from the camera. Thorne went on about profit and other progress reports. From the information Thorne was giving out and how much he was fidgeting and kissing ass, Bruce assumed that this woman was a very important person. Bruce didn't really think she was the Head boss they'd been looking for, that was too dangerous; she was more likely a lieutenant or someone really close to whoever the head boss was.

Regardless, this made her a person of interest. Bruce looked at Dick, "she is not the one we are looking for but she may lead us there. Upload this footage and all your footage last night to the Bat computer I want to comb through it and see if I can find out who our mystery woman is."

"Sure."

"Get some sleep Dick." Bruce turned and left the condo. Again he head straight for the steps and made quick work of them and climbed inside his car. As Bruce started the car his phone beeped, he picked it up and looked at it. He'd received a text message from Dick, it read:

_Get some shut eye yourself, Bruce...Nice Roadster_

Bruce smiled and peeled out of the parking lot and headed home.

Some hours later, Alfred walked down the stair case into the Batcave carrying a phone in his hand. Bruce was sitting at the computer still in his office clothes reviewing Dick's material that he'd collected over the last 24 hours.

"Master Bruce, I have miss Kyle on the phone."

Bruce paused the video and turned around to face Alfred. In his lap was Isis, lifted her head and squeaked in protest for being awakened. Bruce rubbed her cheek and looked up at Alfred as she put her head down and continued her nap. For a moment he felt like telling Alfred to tell he'd gone out but something stopped him and he grabbed the phone from Alfred's hand and nodded his thanks.

"Hello?"

"Hey Bruce, you sound awake! I didn't wake you up this time?"

Bruce chuckled, "No, not this time Selina. I actually had a meeting this morning so I have been up for quite some time."

"Oh so you do work every once in a while." Selina laughed.

Bruce smiled and rubbed his face. "Did you just call to give me a hard time? Or is there a reason?"

"No I have a reason for calling you, although I should do that sometime! Like at six in the morning to make sure you're awake! Although I'm sure Alfred would never wake you that early unless ABSOLUTELY necessary!" Selina chuckled again "I'm sorry Bruce I'm probably completely boring you with my blabber!"

"No that is fine Selina. I needed a break from my work, what do you need?"

"I don't _need_ anything, but I'd like to invite you over for dinner. I'd like to make you a thank you dinner for all you've done for me. Plus, I got this new kick ass apartment and I want to celebrate! You're like my only friend I have in Gotham that isn't a criminal, plus you have my cat and I'd like her back. So you can't say no, I don't care if you have some super hot model waiting to have a fun night with you, I don't care you're gonna cancel and that's fact!"

For a moment Bruce was silent, when the moment passed broke out laughing. The sound almost shocked him he hasn't laugh so hard so genuinely in long time, even Alfred who had started up the stairs had stopped and turned to look at him.

"Glad I amuse you Bruce."

"Sorry Selina, there are not too many people out there who would be so...bold, to be so...demanding..."

"What can I say, I'm a girl who knows what I want and isn't afraid to ask for it. Anyways dinner is at seven and I'm at 552 Aster Lane apartment 506 top floor. Bye!"

Selina quickly hung up her phone, not giving Bruce the chance to shut her down. She heard something in his voice, like hesitancy; almost like he wasn't sure he wanted to talk to her. He'd never not return her cat but he'd just send Alfred with Isis if he didn't want to come over. He still might, but what she didn't understand was why the sudden change. In just a day and a half he went from being eager to see her to being hesitant.

Maybe it'd been there little chat last night (she was pretty much now 100% sure, it just fit too well), something must've clicked in his head. He could be so moody sometimes. Selina looked at her watched 3:30; she needed to pick up some food so she could actually make something. She'd gotten to work extra early this morning and had gotten a ton of work done, Dr. Reid had been so impressed that she'd let Selina go home early and casually informed Selina to pick up her new address and key for her new apartment from Patty on the way out.

Selina had rushed to her old apartment, collected the few things she owned and rushed off to her new apartment. Like Dr. Reid said it was no chic apartment but it was paradise compared to her last couple of apartments she'd lived in over the last couple years...while she had still been free. To make the deal even sweeter, it'd been completely furnished too! The furniture looked fairly new and barely used; it also had plenty of room for Isis...although she'd been spoiled the last two years living in the lap of luxury.

Selina collected her jacket and keys and headed out the door. Her first stop had been a middle class clothing store to buy herself a few more work clothes and along the way she found this kick ass dress that she just had to have! After the clothing store she headed to the grocery store, she picked out a better line of essentials then bough enough groceries to last the week as well as some kitty essentials; she'd pick up a better line of food for Isis tomorrow. Selina had just one more stop and that would take her back to the shadier end of town. She wanted to pick up some wine, and there was this place that made awesome wine but the owner was poor as everyone else and nobody barely knew he existed; except maybe the mobsters who shook him down for protection money.

Selina made a quick pit stop on the way, to drop her newly bought items at home then once again headed out. Selina finally got to where Papa's Confection and Winery used to be but found nothing but a burned out shell of a building. In the middle of the still smoking ruin was an old man and woman hugging and weeping. Apparently Papa could no longer pay the protection fee. Selina got out of her car and walked over to the couple.

"Are you two alright?"

The old man turned and looked at her cheeks dampened with tears. "We are fine, but we have nothing left! This store was all we had left!"

"What happened?" Selina felt horribly sad for these people. She remembered this man being a wonderful human being, always willing to show kindness to his neighbour. She felt even worse for never taking the time to remember their names.

"I've seen you before, you used to come to my store regularly. I think you know what happened. But I couldn't cover the costs, the price tripled in less than a month! These were new men, I've never seen them before! They weren't willing to give me an extension! I've never missed a payment, how could they do this to me, to our community! Everybody relies on my goods, everybody else is so inflated!"

"Who's in control of this neighbourhood now?"

"What does it matter they're all alike." The old man shook his and hugged his wife again.

"Please tell me if you know..."

"Thorne used to control this area, I think he still does but I don't know. Something's changing; this kind of thing is happening all over the place no matter who's controlling the area."

Selina pulled a couple of $100 bills out of her pocket and handed them to the couple, "I know this isn't nearly enough to help you get back on your feet but I hope it'll help at least a little.

The old woman pulled Selina into a tight hug, "Thank you, Bless your soul child!"

"I hope things turn out for you two, don't let those bastards get to you I'm sure it'll turn out."

Selina turned and got back into her car. She could help but stare at her rear view mirror as she drove away from that poor couple. Selina managed to find a liquor store on the way home, she didn't really have a lot of money left after her spending spree and then giving that couple what she had left in her pocket but she was still better off than most. Selina had forgotten how much more fortunate she was then most people. Most of her problems were self made, and for the first time she understood why Batman worked so hard day in and day out with little to no reward. Safety for others was in itself its reward.

Selina bought her cheap booze and headed home. By the time she got home it was already 5 O'clock, Selina quickly got supper started and then headed off to have a shower and then put on her new dress and dolled herself up. She brought out some cleaning supplies and freshened up the place, checked on dinner and continued on to set up the apartment so it'd be more Isis friendly.

By 6:30 dinner was nearly ready, and everything was set up. This apartment and a nice sized balcony with a plain bistro set on the deck. She sat down at the table and took in the scenery around her. Her apartment building was only 5 stories high so she was at the top floor but she was right near the park. Even without the park, the city was a beautiful place. She'd been all over the world, but there was no city like Gotham. Sure it had its problems, but no one could deny that this city was the most beautiful in the states if not the world.

The image of the old couple flashed before her, this city also had the toughest and kindest people she'd ever met. The loonies like Joker we quite frankly few and far between, they just knew how to make an impression on both Gotham and the world. Ever since Batman started his vigilante ways, the crime rate of this city plummeted. It was no longer the Crime Capitol of the world.

Selina was snapped out of her revere by the sound of a rather loud engine, sounded like a fancy sports car...and sure enough a moment later a Mercedes whipped around the corner...that had to be Bruce. Selina got up and checked on dinner again, it was now done. She turned the burners off and waited for the knock at her door.

Selina looked at the clock, exactly two minutes later the knock came...that was quick, must've taken the stairs. When she opened the door, there he stood in sports jacket and jeans (she couldn't recall ever seeing the man in jeans before...they suited him) but more importantly was Isis sleeping in the crook of his arm. At his feet was a box of kitty looking items. Selina bent over and picked up the box and stepped back and let him in.

"Come on in Bruce, I'm glad you came."

Bruce chuckled, "As I recall I was not really given the choice to turn you down."

Selina smiled and shrugged her shoulders. Bruce walked into the apartment and looked around; when he spotted the couch he gently put her down. Isis made a tiny squeak of protest lifting her head to look up at him with sleepy then curled up into a tight ball and continued the nap. Selina smiled at how the two interacted, they both seem rather attached to each other. Selina felt bad for Isis, she wasn't exactly young anymore; pushing fourteen! Cats don't generally like change and although Isis has always taken Selina's constant moving around like a champ she suspected that Isis was like every other cat and preferred a consistent lifestyle. Selina could only imagine the lifestyle she'd gotten used to with Bruce.

"So what is for supper? I am absolutely _starving_!" Bruce turned to her and smiled.

"I hope you like Chicken!" Selina walked over to the kitchen.

"I love chicken!"

From the kitchen Selina said, "You're just being nice, Bruce. Take a seat I'll bring the food out in a moment."

Selina piled a large serving into one dish...that man had quite the appetite...and a considerably smaller one for herself. She balanced the two plates on one arm and grabbed the wine bottle in the other. As soon as Bruce saw her with her load he got up on his feet and instantly relieved her of the plates.

"You know you could have just asked for help." Bruce said as he placed the plates down on the table.

Selina laughed, "I don't ask for help unless I absolutely need it, I guess I've got a problem with pride."

"Well I should not harp on you, I am just as bad." He said smiling.

Selina grabbed the corkscrew, and was instantly relieved of it by Bruce. She gave him a smack on the arm as he promptly opened the bottle. She quickly snatched the bottle away from him as he grabbed for her glass. "As I recall, I'm the hostess here and you are my guest! Now sit down and let me pour the wine!"

Bruce smiled and sat down. "Yes ma'am!"

Selina poured into his glass first and then as she filled her glass she said "Sorry if it's no good. My normal winery was burned to the ground last night."

Bruce cocked an eyebrow, "What happened?"

"Well, apparently some new bastard has taken over the area and raised the protection fee up to an outrageous sum and when the owner couldn't pay, they burned it down. Didn't even give the man a day to try and get more money, no warning, nothing. They just burned it!" Selina took her seat and studied Bruce's face. He was obviously shocked but that's all she could read from him.

"What did you say the name of this store was?" Bruce clasped his hands in front of his chin and lightly rested his elbows at the very end of the table. He kept his expression even, Selina started to sense some irritation or maybe it was just curiosity.

"It's called Papa's Confection and Winery; it's in the rougher end of town I doubt you would've ever heard of it." Selina took a sip from her wine.

Bruce nodded and then put his hands down and started eating. "I hope nobody got hurt!"

"No, I think the couple who owns it was there when they burned it down; but they didn't seem injured...physically anyways. I don't know what's going happen to them, they're an older couple. I gave them all the money I had on me so hopefully they'll be okay. Plus that neighbourhood has some great people; maybe somebody will take them in."

"That was awfully kind of you Selina, I am sure they will be ok. Anyways this food is great!" The way he said she was kind, he looked straight at her. He was being very sincere like he was trying to encourage her, like saying 'good girl' to a dog you've just taught to sit on command. That made her think that he knew more about her then Bruce Wayne should know. As for the food compliment, he was trying to change the subject to something less gloomy.

The rest of the night flew by, after dinner they moved to the balcony and talked idly over more wine. Bruce drank more then she'd seen the last time. He hadn't even drunk one full glass by the time she'd left but he was already on his third. She actually cut him off knowing he wouldn't want to spend the night...although she'd love it if he spent the night. He stopped without so much as a comment or complaint. He didn't seem in the least bit phased by his three glasses but he was a rather large man so it probably took quite a bit to make him even a little tipsy, she couldn't even imagine what it'd take to get him hammered...not that he would _ever_ go that far.

As for Selina, she'd only had one glass. Selina hoped the wine would loosen him up like it did to pretty much every other man and it might've a little but not nearly as much as she would've liked. Selina started to wonder if he was suspicious of her, just when he seem relaxed he suddenly went back into that mode...that face he puts up for the world so that they couldn't see the real Bruce. She hated it when he did that.

Just before midnight he left. He gave Isis a good rub on the head, gave her a peck on the cheek and left. Selina watched from the balcony as he sped away like he always did. Selina wasn't sure where it sprung up during his visit but something had inspired her to something very reckless. Something that could very easily send her back to jail for much longer then she already had been, but this time she had pure intention. She might have started out the first time with pure intentions, but she wasn't stealing. If he could do it, then she should be able to put her talents to good use too. This time she was going to help people instead of stealing from them.

Selina grabbed her purse and car keys and left her apartment. She jumped into her car and head toward the docks. Selina pulled in front of an old no longer abandon warehouse. Selina turned her car around and headed back several blocks before parking it and getting out. Selina walked into the nearest alley and climbed up the first fire escape she could find. Once on rooftop, she hiked up her skirt and walked up to the ledge facing towards the warehouse. She sized up the gap between the buildings then back up once more, then she sprinted to edge and jumped over the alley and landed easily on the other side; neither damaging her dress nor her shoes. Selina smiled to herself, pleased that she was still capable of jumping over six foot wide alley's in heels.

Selina continued making her way back towards the alley, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. When she reached the last roof before the warehouse, Selina peered down into the alley the warehouse. Sure enough there were three armed goonies guarding the alley and its back door. These boys weren't your regular guards; they were heavy armed with assault rifles and shotguns and looked an awful lot like gangsters.

Selina studied the warehouse looking for a point in which she could enter the building. All along the top of the build had windows, most were unable to open; but one window could open and below it was situated a post sticking from which a light hung from. Now Selina had a plan to get in. Selina went to corner nearest to the street and was also the lowest corner and made one more mighty leap, just barely making it. Following the warehouses ledge she crept her way along until she was just above the post. Selina finally decided it was time to take off her heels and put them carefully down on the ledge and dropped down onto the pole. Selina wobbled back and forth for a moment before finally getting her balance. She peered down below, the goons were none the wiser to her presence. Finally she turned to the window, it was open just enough that she could squeeze through.

Before she squeezed herself through she took in the surroundings of the warehouse. The catwalk below her was just twelve feet long and at one end was a ladder that lead down to the next level of catwalk which encircled the whole warehouse. On the second level was a goon with his back to her as he walk towards the other end. She took her chance and squeezed her way inside.

The floor plan was fairly open. It had just the one level that completely circled the warehouse and four eight foot long section of catwalk under windows. Otherwise there was only one room in the entire building, and it had a roof. Scattered throughout the rest of the warehouse was tall stakes of boxes on pallets creating hallway and the occasional area where the goons had created rooms where they could congregate in. Apparently they weren't expecting any trouble, cause the only one doing any patrolling was the goon on the catwalk and even he seemed to making his way toward where his other three buddies were playing cards. The goon went down the flight of stairs and headed down an aisle of boxes.

Selina took this opportunity and slide down the ladder down to the second level of catwalk. Selina's target was clear across the warehouse to a corner with a false floor. Selina hugged to outer wall and quickly and quietly ran along to the wall until she reached the corner. Selina crouched down and approached the edge of the catwalk and checked to progress of the four goons. Sure enough goon number one had joined the others and had joined in with the card game.

Selina quickly crawled over the rail, hanging for a moment, judging the distance and then dropped down softly to the ground. The impact hurt her bare feet but she ignored the pain and rushed over to the corner. Luckily the floor had not been covered up by a pallet but was uncomfortable exposed. This isle had a clear view of the office but thankfully there was no one in sight.

Selina knocked on the floor a couple times to make sure she had the right spot then lifted the tile up and out of the way. Below the tile was a nook which contained a duffle bag. Selina unzipped the bag and pulled out a pair of black boots, which she quickly slipped on; then there was a leather outfit complete with mask, gloves and goggles. There was also a whip as well as several fake passports and just enough cash to get her a plane ticket. Selina left the passport and money but took the whip and wrapped it around herself like she always did. Selina slid on her gloves and wrapped the rest of the outfit into a bundle using the arms to tie around her waist. Finally she slipped on her goggles and slid the tile back into place. Just as she dropped it into place she heard a door slam shut Selina flattened herself against the floor. With her goggles on she could see the heat signature of everything in the building. The four goonies were still seated off to her left and there was now a smaller figure and a rather...round figure in front of her in the office.

Curious Selina crawled along the floor and crouched underneath an open window. She was still in a very exposed area but the people in the room couldn't see her and the only other people in the building where on the other side of boxes. Using her goggles she could tell that neither person was facing her direction so she carefully peered inside the room. Inside she saw Oswald Cobblepot and some woman she's never seen before.

Oswald was speaking, "Hey I'm all for negotiations, especially with fine specimen as yourself" he looked her up and down with a lecherous leer then continued "...but I would be STUPID if I was to agree to that! I would have control over nothing! I didn't break out of jail to give up my freedom to somebody else!"

"I assure you," the woman said "You will have full control of your men."

"Yah but you'll have full control of me! I'd be like your puppet! Do I look like the Ventriloquist! Get out of my warehouse!"

Bird brain snapped his finger and two of the goonies from the card game broke off and ran into the room.

"What the heck took you so long!" Oswald screeched smacking the nearest man.

"Uh sorry sir, it won't happen again sir!"

"You bet it won't, now escort Ms. Sorowski back to her car!"

"Yes sir!"

Selina looked around quickly to find the quickest exit. The easiest was the stairwell to her right but she would for surely be spotted by somebody. Instead when the goonies and Ms. Sorowski exit Selina quick climb onto the roof of the room, flattening herself on the roof and waited for the goonies to leave. Unfortunately Oswald's squawking got the other two moving and they were making their way towards the catwalk steps and once on the catwalk they'd surely spot her. Making a quick decision Selina got up ran silently to the other side and leaped at the catwalk just barely managing to catch the edging. Dangling from the side Selina quickly pulled herself up. She quickly scampered across the catwalk, reach a different eight foot section and quickly climbed up and flattened herself just in time as one of the goons reached the top of a staircase ten feet away.

He walked leisurely by her perch barely looking around. His other buddy was on the other side working his way around the opposite of his buddy. Somehow neither man saw Selina and went to patrol ground level, Selina creeped up to the window, it was closed more than the other window so she had to crank it open just a little more. There was no pole under this window and this side face the docks so there was nowhere to go but up. There was the slightest ledge, just barely wide enough to get a toe hold.

When Selina managed to get out of the window, she got a solid footing on the ledge then looked up. The roof was about eight feet above her, good thing this was an old brick building; the gaps between bricks was just enough she could get enough grip with her claws to be able to scale the building. When she reached the roof Selina bent over to breath for a moment. Somehow she had managed to get out of that warehouse without setting off an alarm. A moment later she crouched down and made her way around the building to the side she had entered. On her way back to the corner she gathered her shoes and then made the leap to the opposing building. She landed softly on the other side and took off running heading back to her car as fast as she could.

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Hey my loyal readers! Thanks again! So sorry about the time it took me to get this out! Hopefully the length of this chapter makes up for its lateness! As always R&R love hearing your input. If anyone want to proof read for me I love it! I always miss my own mistakes!


	11. Chapter 10

Here's a shorty. I'll give you the heads up now…I didn't proof read this…sorry for what's bound to be oodles of mistakes…enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything DC related

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Something was beeping loudly a foot away from Selina, but she didn't care. She just rolled over and put her arm over her ear, a moment later Selina felt a slight shift in her sheets then a furry head started rubbing her arm and what was available of her face. With a start Selina sat up and looked at the source of the beeping realizing it was her alarm clock and noted the time as she slammed the snooze button. Beside her Isis continued rubbing against her, now rubbing her torso doing circles around Selina.

Isis undoubtedly wanted her breakfast and Selina had to get up for work as well. Her body ached from the now uncustomary amounts of exercise and the lack of sleep she'd been missing out on. Selina stretched as she walked from her room to the Kitchen and filled Isis' bowl with kibble. Selina had to get ready as quickly as possible to avoid being late for work and even with her briskness she had to drive to work at an insane speeds, taking several back roads doing her best to avoid morning traffic. Selina was relieved when she made it ten minutes early.

The whole week had been difficult for Selina but it was all self-inflicted and she was ok with that. Since restarting her night time activities (although in a completely different capacity) she'd been struggling to get to work on time. She hadn't been late yet, and thanks to a good cup of strong coffee she was still alert when at work. Usually after work she'd get a few hours to nap and then around midnight she'd head out. Selina made sure that no boy blunder or other such lackey was watching first though, but so far she hadn't seen anybody snooping around and since the man himself hadn't shown up to her apartment, she'd assumed that they hadn't figured her out yet.

After the last couple nights, that didn't really surprise her. They were probably far too busy to be watching her right now. The city was under attack and the everyday citizen's had no idea. The city's big kahuna's where either being bought out or when they didn't comply, they were forcefully removed and replaced by someone more willing. No one seemed to know who the head of this organized attack was they just knew the person was powerful. Selina had caught sight of this 'Ms. Sorowski' several times this week. She seemed to be the deal broker for whoever this new crime boss was.

Selina shook her head as she exited the elevator, she couldn't think of that today. There was an important inspection today from Wayne Enterprises. It was an evaluation check to see if they were still worth Wayne money. Apparently Bruce himself, along with Lucius, was coming to inspect. With or without her working here would have no bearing on whether or not Bruce would be willing to continue funding this place; Bruce was a very business wise person and if they weren't performing to par they'd be given one chance and if they could come through Bruce had no qualms of pulling the plug.

Dr. Reid had asked her what she thought Bruce might do, and Selina had tried to reassure that Bruce probably wouldn't do that too them. They were doing many great things. They worked on various things such mapping various of cats genome's to trying to find cures to feline diseases to find ways to preserve wild cats. They were making head way, even in the short time Selina had worked there. Selina had quickly moved from grunt work to more satisfying jobs that actually put her knowledge to work. Dr. Reid had been impressed by how much she knew about the big cats and often asked questions about the work her and her uncle had done. Now Selina was head of her department and was too give a presentation.

Selina head straight to Dr. Reid's office and knocked on the door before entering. When Selina entered the office, Dr. Reid was nervously drumming her fingers as she read over whatever document was in front of her. Selina sat down quietly and waited to be acknowledged by the doctor. After a moment Dr. Reid looked up at her.

"Are you ready for this Selina?" She asked.

Selina smiled at her trying to reassure her, "You bet. Couldn't be more prepared! Don't worry doctor! Everything will be fine! Bruce isn't really a scary guy…I've never met Mr. Fox before but I know Bruce thinks very highly of him and leaves him in control of his business most of the time!"

"That means nothing!"

"When it comes to Bruce it does. He wouldn't leave his father's business in the hands of a greedy business man, in the way of charity and compassion Bruce has taken after his father."

"I sincerely hope you are right, Selina. They should be here in about twenty to twenty-five minutes. Why don't you head off to the conference room and get ready for your presentation. I'll be there in a moment."

Selina nodded, got up and left the office. She walked briskly to her own desk and gathered her things for her presentation. When she got to the conference room she sat down at the laptop that sat on the conference table and inserted her USB stick and uploaded her presentation. A few moments later several of her other colleagues joined her in the room. She went over last minute information, making sure her presentation was still accurate. They then sat there idly waiting for their guests to arrive. Most looked extremely nervous, not used to being put under such scrutiny.

Selina sat in her chair relaxed when they finally arrived as per normal Bruce was twenty minutes late. Normally Selina would've thought it as a normal Playboy charade, but when he walked in to the room he looked absolutely bushed. He had nicely trimmed hair, clean shaven, and top of the line crisp suit but even though he had his typical smile on you could see it in his eyes.

Selina got up and fetched some coffee from the table that stood too one side. "Would you gentlemen like a cup of coffee? It's a little strong but that's how us scientist like it. It helps us keep focused." Selina smiled over her shoulder.

As they sat down Lucius was the first to speak up, "That would be appreciated, with some cream please."

"I believe you like yours black, don't you Mr. Wayne?" said Selina as she poured two cups of coffee.

"That would greatly be appreciated…Ms. Kyle."

Selina smiled at him as she set down the coffee in front of him and Lucius. Selina took her seat as Dr. Reid started the presentation. The whole thing really had been snooze worthy but they got across what they needed. Instead of making them suffer for a day or two like most companies would, Bruce delivered their verdict at the end of the presentation. They renewed the contract of another three years, much to Dr. Reid's relief. Somehow Selina figured they would have no matter what, but she guessed they like coming to see what their money was doing for them in person. Dr. Reid gave them a grand tour of the place.

She asked Selina to take stage again when they came to an unusual Bengal tiger named Tika. Tika was an inbred tiger born with a particularly deadly genetic disease. Her vital system was slowly shutting down; she was also extremely small for her age. At the age of three Tika was barely half the size of an average female Bengal tiger. Selina was the one in charge of trying to find the particular gene that caused this defect; if Selina wasn't quick Tika would be dead in a matter of six months or less. Quite frankly it was a miracle she'd lived passed her first couple of hours. She had a brother who had managed to make it to the two month mark but died suddenly one night.

Bruce who looked like the walking dead throughout most of the tour actually looked like he was paying attention when she spoke. It probably pleased him that she was doing so well in her job; he probably figured that it might keep her out of trouble for time…maybe. He was a smart man; he must realize that she would still have that craving for adventure.

After they'd left, Selina's day went by in a blur. This job left her very little time to sit and contemplate and she was grateful for that, it would make her days very long. When her day was done, Selina headed reluctantly to the grocery store. She really hadn't been to the grocery store since she'd made supper for Bruce and her kitchen was sadly lacking. Plus, with her increase in activity she was consuming a lot more as well. Selina tried to shop as healthy as possible, knowing her body needed as much as she could give it.

When home she made herself a proper meal, did some stretching and finally decided to catch a nap. Lately Selina had dreamless nights, nothing but blackness but tonight she wasn't so fortunate. It started rather pleasantly, like a memory almost. She was on roof top kissing the handsome dark knight before her, the kiss got more and more intense. Selina closed her eyes thoroughly enjoying the kiss, suddenly her eyes flashed opened when she realized she was no longer kissing the dark knight. Selina backed up suddenly when looked at the unfamiliar shape before her. He was tall and strongly built like Batman but he was dressed in a suit and his skin seemed as black as night and full of blisters. When she tried to look at his face, she couldn't see anything as it was covered in shadow. She had been so focused on his face that she hadn't noticed the gun at his side until he smiled as he raised the gun. Selina turned and ran for the nearest edge but before she could reach it, she heard the shot and then felt the bullet rip through her shoulder.

Selina woke with a shriek as she bolted up right. She looked around her room dazed and alarmed trying to find the man in her dreams. She finally realized that it was just a horrible dream, breathing heavily she got out of bed and headed for the balcony to get some fresh air. Selina wiped the sweat from her brow, leaned on the rail and looked up at the sky. Selina chuckled to herself when she spotted to the Bat symbol shining brightly in the sky.

Once she finally slowed her heart beat she went back inside and got herself ready for the night. It was finally Friday, so she didn't have to worry about getting home early enough to get enough sleep to make it through the work day. Like every night Selina went to the roof of her building and jumped on to a fire escape on the opposing building, this building was four stories higher than the one she lived in and got her high enough to take the roof top express through Gotham.

She slowly wound her way towards the shadier end of town where most of the action happened. Along the way she took down a couple of purse snatchers, stopped a gas station robbery and got a little girl safely home. At this end of town, nobody reported anything, especially a Catwoman. People where either too scared of the repercussions or didn't think it was worth reporting. Catwoman was both very sad and very glad for this. Sad, because that meant that the criminals she'd just stopped wouldn't get arrested…although they might think twice before reoffending…but glad because that it meant that she could continue on. As soon as people start report sightings of the Catwoman running around again, the police and Batman would start investigating her again. And she might end up in jail again and that wasn't acceptable.

Part of Catwoman hoped that if Batman did find her out, that he'd realize that she was helping people now not stealing from them and either let her continue on with a cautious eye or better yet, let her help him, let her work with him. There had been several times over the last week that Selina had been tempted to call up Bruce and tell him what she's been up too and confess that she knew who he really was. But every time, she chickened out, so much for being fearless. She knew with all her heart that she was right, but she wasn't she it was wise to let him know that she knew.

Catwoman sighed and shook her head, she need to focus on the here and now, and currently the here and now starting to get very interesting. Catwoman recognized one of the men leaving a high-end night club to be Rupert Thorne's top man, Frankie; he was getting into the back of a fancy sedan. Catwoman moved closer so she could read the plates, making sure she wouldn't lose the car. When it pulled out Catwoman did her best to keep up by jumping from roof top to roof top. She lost sight of it several times, but thanks the fact that Gotham was always busy she managed to catch up.

They travelled clear across town, for a while it looked like they might leave the city limits and if he did that, there was no way she'd be able to continue following him but instead they headed off to the airport. Instead of following him up the windy road Selina headed straight to the main terminal. No matter if the flight was coming or going, domestic or international, you had to start off at the main terminal and then take a connecting train to which ever terminal you need to be at. Even if you had your own plane you would have to pass through this terminal. For that reason, most criminal would rather risk landing in Metropolis and drive from there to Gotham. Criminals don't like being bottlenecked in to a single place unless absolutely necessary.

Despite this Catwoman was certain that Frankie was here to pick someone up. It was so unlikely and unusual that a more brazen man would do it. Sure enough Frankie walked through the front doors into the terminal, dressed as she was there was no way Catwoman would get through there unnoticed. Catwoman squeezed through the first open window she saw which happened to be a bathroom. Looking around, there was only one person in the bathroom at this time of night, and that person had slung there jacket over the top of the stall door.

Catwoman pulled her goggles down around her neck, pulled off her gloves and pulled back her cowl. She grabbed the jacket and swung it around her shoulders and was out of the bathroom before the person realized what had happened. Selina rapped the coat tightly around her hiding suit. All anyone could see was a woman wearing leather pants and knee high boots. Her hair was undoubtedly a mess and she tried to straighten it as she searched for a sight of Frankie. Sure enough she found him sitting in a chair near where International flight arrivals came out of customs. Selina went to a nearby booth that had a collection of things; she grabbed a cup of coffee and pretended to look at the sunglasses all the while looking at Frankie with the mirror attached to the stand.

After about fifteen minutes Selina moved on to the magazine rack, still trying to subtly keep an eye on Frankie. A few minutes later the gate doors opened and people started filing through. Frankie stood up and walked closer to the doors looking at the people as they passed. Finally very tall well built man stepped through the gate and approached Frankie. Frankie tipped his head, from her observation, it was clear the two were unfamiliar with each other but the big man was definitely someone important as Frankie took to doing some ass kissing. Frankie quickly guided the man towards the exit. Selina lingered a moment longer bought her magazine then made her way after the men, trying to stay out of sight. Selina contemplated whether she should sneak out the bathroom window again or if she should walk out the front door. She'd look suspicious if she slipped out the window plus there could be more people in there.

Selina followed them through the front doors but immediately turned right and headed to the upper parkade level. When she was out of sight she quickly pulled her cowl back on and slid her goggles back into place. As Catwoman ran to the other side of the parkade she stuffed her newly acquired jacket into a trash can and slid on her gloves. When Catwoman reached the edge of the parkade she peered over the side to see if she could catch sight of the car as it left the airport. She stood there a few moments and started to worry that she might've missed them leave, when the car drove underneath her. Catwoman jumped on to a nearby tree and quickly climbed down it and took off the way she'd come so she could meet up with the car again before it made it too the freeway.

Catwoman had managed to get on top of a building by the time Frankie managed to get the car to the free way. And like she guessed, instead of going back the way he had come he headed off towards the end on of town that held the upper class. Undoubtedly they had some sort of condo or house for this man. What surprised Catwoman was the lack of security guards. Catwoman had this hunch that this man might be someone of great importance; he was either a lieutenant to the brain child of whatever the scheme was currently underway or maybe even the brain child himself. If that was so, this guy had large balls. Even if he wanted to avoid attention, most guys were too paranoid to not have _some _sort of security. Maybe this guy did and she just couldn't see them.

Catwoman managed to follow them as far into town as to where the condo's started; which made it almost impossible to follow them on foot with all the skyscrapers. Catwoman made a mental note of where she'd last seen them and what direction they'd been heading…although that could mean nothing. If they were smart, they'd change directions several times before making it to their actual destination. If they were even smarter yet they'd have decoy cars but she doubted they had anticipated her. What would Catwoman care about a couple of mafia men?

By now the sun had started to rise, Catwoman had spent most of her night following Frankie. She considered trying to find Batman and telling him what she'd witnessed but she really didn't have a lot to tell him; just a couple of hunch and a vague proximity to where this mystery man _might_ be. Plus, she'd have to tell him that she was breaking her parole by putting on her Catwoman outfit. She still wasn't sure if he'd want to arrest her or not. He might not right now, too much going on right now to worry about her because she would put up a fight; she wasn't going back to jail for being a concerned citizen. It's not like she was stealing anything, just beating the snot out of a few thugs…no worse then what he was doing.

Instead Catwoman decided to call it a night. She really needed to catch up on some sleep. She hoped to be bright-eyed and bushy tailed come Monday morning. Catwoman carefully made her way, careful to make sure no one was watching her apartment when she entered it. She quickly stripped off her outfit and stashed it into her hiding place, pulled on a t-shirt grabbed some clean clothes and started for the shower. As she passed the threshold from her from that went into her open living room she sense somebody behind her. Instinctively Selina whirled around and snapped out her leg kicking at the approximate area of an average sized person head.

Instead of making a connection with her intruders head, the intruder caught her ankle in a gloved hand. Selina tried to pull her ankle free but the hand held firm. Suddenly Selina realized who her intruder was…of course it was him, she'd been half expecting him for a while; though she was still surprised to see him. Suddenly she felt something cold settle in her stomach, had he seen her?

Selina pulled on her foot one more time and this time he let it go. She stared at him a moment, he looked stressed and tired but he didn't seem all that tense. Maybe she hadn't been made…yet.

"You know you really need to knock. I swear I will have a heart attack or something one day."

"Unlikely."

"So to what do I owe this pleasure of your visit?"

"You're awake rather early for a day off."

"What can I say; I'm a creature of habit. You didn't answer my question, why are you here? Coming to check up on me? Strange hour don't you think?"

Selina looked down at her bare legs, nothing but a pair of panties on. She turned and walked back into her bedroom and grabbed a pair of shorts. Batman had followed to the bedroom door and leaned against the door frame. She looked at him as she flipped on a lamp. "So?"

"Sort of, not really."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Batman just shrugged his shoulders, there was a bit of a smirk working its way onto his face. Undoubtedly some dirty thoughts were working their way into his head. He must be real tired, he was slipping. His last visit had lasted a whole minute, and he'd been super cranky. Today he just seemed tired. Idly she wondered how the others kept up with his mood swings, probably one of the reasons Nightwing had decided to fly solo.

"You know that really annoying!"

"What is?"

"Your none answers, SO irritating?"

"So I've been told." Batman straightened and started to walk away.

"That's it? No lecture or warning? Nothing?"

Batman stopped and turned to her. "Should I be?"

"It's just that you always have something to say. If not lectures, I'd expect at least a flurry of questions or something."

He turned and continued to her window and stopped just as he had a foot on the window sill. "I guess I just needed…" Yup he was definitely smirking know "…a change of scenery. Goodnight Selina, or should I say 'have a good morning?" He turned and leapt out of her window.

Selina stood there dumbstruck for a moment, and then smiled to herself. It'd been while since she'd been able to see that side of him. Her last several encounters he'd been so serious. She'd began to think that he'd lost interest, although Bruce seemed to suggest the opposite...most of the time. Selina sighed continued on to the shower.

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Hey I hope you guys like this chapter! Let me know what you think. I'll try to keep updating. Reviews+followers/favorites=more chapters

Shockra


	12. Chapter 11

Tyger

by William Blake

"Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright

In the forests of the night

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand dare seize thy fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And why thy heart began to beat,

What dread hand? & What dread feet?

What the hammer? What the chain?

In what furnace was thy brain?

What the anvil? What dread grasp

Dare its deadly terrors grasp?

When the stars threw down their spears

And water'd heaven with their tears,

Did he smile his work to see?

Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?"

I first heard this poem in Batman: The Animated Series I have loved it since. So I'd thought I'd share it with you all!Oh and i finally edited it! I swear! Sorry if I missed anything. Anyways on with the show! I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I do not own any part or rights of DC or its Characters.

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Selina had begun to feel like she was just banging her head against a wall with all the progress she was making. She stalked the streets night after night trying to get leads on this mysterious new stranger, but it was as if he never existed. Selina had even hacked into both the airport and the airline records to see what name she could dig up. Selina knew perfectly well that it would be a fake I.D. but there wasn't even that too find. She did manage to find out what flight he had been on and that the flight had come from Spain but that was all she could find out.

Things were getting very strange lately as well, even for Gotham. Over the last week, major crimes had taken a drastic plunge. It was as if Gotham's underworld was taking a vacation. Catwoman had been calling in every favour she could but most of her snitches were either too scared to say or do anything, and the few who were brave enough either never came back a live or couldn't find anything of use.

Catwoman looked down at the city from her perch on top of one of the tallest skyscrapers in the city. She didn't know what to do next, she was at a loss! Even Cobblepot had skipped town, apparently that woman had done something to scare that beak faced twit out of town, not that she should complain.

Catwoman suddenly straighten, and then whirled around. There was no one behind her but there was a shadow making it way towards her. Catwoman unclipped her whip and quickly ducked behind a vent. The shadow continued to progress forward until a familiar woman appeared. It was that Sorowski woman! The woman stopped and looked around.

"I know you're still here Catwoman, you might as well come out. I just want to talk!" Sorowski held her hands up as if to show her that she was unarmed, but Catwoman was well aware you didn't need weapons to be dangerous.

Catwoman let her whip unravel as stood up from behind the vent. She took a few steps forwards and flicked her whip a bit to let the woman know she was more than prepared to use it.

"Who are you? And what do you want from me?" Catwoman hissed.

"My name is Inna Sorowski, and I want you." Catwoman hissed and cracked her whip in the other woman's direction; Sorowski looked back at her unconcerned.

"I suppose I should clarify a bit. More like I want the use of your particular set of skills. You are very difficult to find you know."

Catwoman remained tense, "You want me to steal something for you?"

"No not steal, just infiltrate and deposit something for me."

"Why me, there's plenty of people out there who can break into buildings undetected."

"You, Catwoman, are in a league of your own. I've researched some of the biggest thefts in the last decade and most of them have your calling card all over them. Nothing seems impenetrable to you."

"So you want me to break into some kind of fortress, apparently."

"Yes but that is all I'm going to tell you until agree to do this job."

Catwoman remained silent a moment, she SO did not want to help this woman but this woman was connected to whatever was going on in this city and if she agreed to help her she might actually get some where's finally.

"Give me a day to think about it. I'll meet you here at the same time tomorrow and you'll have your answer."

Sorowski nodded, "Fine I'll give you a day, but it will be very much worth your while. Besides it would be very unhealthy for you to deny our request." She turned and started walking away when suddenly she stopped and looked back at her. "Don't even think of leaving town Catwoman, we'll find you."

With that she disappeared, Catwoman sneered in the direction Sorowski had left; she hated being threatened. The woman was basically giving her no choice, she was going to go along with whatever they wanted to do anyways but she needed to have a conversation with a particular somebody first. It was already late at night….more like early morning but HE was probably still awake.

Usually whenever she wanted to talk to the man, all she had to do was set off the alarm of some high end place and within ten minutes poof there he was. But she wasn't entirely sure that would work this time. Catwoman started off in the direction of home, while running she tried to rack her brain with ideas. Then it struck her, if Batman was Bruce Wayne and considering Wayne Manor was practically in the middle of no where's; it was logical to assume that, that's where he kept all his toys and did all his detective work. She hadn't originally intended to let the cat out of the bag, but she might be getting in over her head with this whole mess and she might need his help. She Catwoman veered off her original course and headed in the direction of Wayne Manor instead.

By the time Catwoman arrived at Wayne Manor it was already 4 in the morning. Thank goodness it was a Sunday! Catwoman perched herself in tree near the Manors fence line. Strange, she thought to herself, she's never noticed all this security before. She's been here several times before, but most of the security measures the manor was equipped with were the unseen kind. There were the obvious security camera's you'd expect of a place like this but there were also hidden secondary cameras, along with movement sensors within the fence line and all sorts of other types of security toys.

If she had a blueprint she'd be able to bypass all this stuff, but she doubted there were any blueprints and if there were; they'd be locked away tight some where's inside the house. She could take the direct approach and just walk up to the door and knock but she was certain Bruce would take the "I'm a moron" route. She had to catch him with his pants down, per se.

Even in such a secluded area, there was no way Batman would be driving up to the manor in the Batmobile, he was too careful for that; so he must have another entrance hidden somewhere. Come to think of it, she thought, there was an old road that led to no where's…perfect place to hide an entrance.

Catwoman jumped out of the tree and ran through the bushes until she came upon the old dirt road, and sure enough there were recent tracks. She followed them but after about ten metres, they stopped. The road had ended…she was sure it used to be longer. Instead it turned into a large field, but there was no sign that the grass had been driven on. Catwoman looked around to see if she could see anything obvious. The grass didn't look new but she also hadn't been down here in a long time. Another kilometer down, the road ended in a sheer drop into the ocean. Something told Catwoman that she shouldn't to step on the grass…there was probably sensors underneath it. So instead she took a very roundabout way to the cliffs edge.

From what she could tell at first glance, there was nothing strange. She had a hunch that the entrance had been back where the field had been but if she was right; there was no way she'd be able to get in that way. It was more than likely a huge slab of metal that was covered in dirt and grass and only opened to a certain radio device.

Catwoman was about to turn back when she glimpsed a hole in the cliff face, it looked like a natural cave entrance…well it was worth a shot. The only problem was it was thirty feet down…well she'd scaled taller buildings, but she'd been climbing up not down. She shrugged her shoulders; if she was a coward she would have quit this profession a long time ago. Catwoman climbed through the ten feet of bush to bring her approximately above the entrance to the cave. She took a deep breath, hoped that this wasn't all for nothing and started down the cliff face.

After what she approximated to be about an hour, she finally reached the cave entrance. She peered inside the dark cave; there was nothing extraordinary about it. Cautiously she entered, thank goodness for her goggles because after she entered about six feet and took a sharp left she would have no longer been able to see her hand in front of her face. There seemed to be only a single path but after about another twenty feet the path came to an end. With just a flashlight someone might think that they'd come to the cave natural dead end but her goggles picked up an electrical current flowing around a door, hidden beneath the rock. Then upon further examination, her goggles also detected a panel hidden behind the rock wall on her right.

She stepped over to where the panel was hidden and inspected it a little closer and managed to find the edges of the rock. Using her claws she managed to get a grip on the edges and she pried the rock away. Apparently the panel was made from real rock because it really heavy and she nearly dropped it when came free. Behind the rock there was a very advanced looking panel, but after a few moments of inspection she was pretty sure she'd figured it out. A life time of hacking security systems had left her with the ability to interpret strange and unfamiliar systems fairly easily.

Catwoman pulled out the necessary tools from her belt and quickly disabled the security and within moment's rock door slid open. She smiled too herself, mumbled "Open sesame" to herself. She cautiously proceeded inside but her goggles didn't pick anything else up, so she continued forward and after some distance she came to the edge of another cliff. Below her she could see and smell the ocean churning, when she looked up she could barely make out the outline of a catwalk. She pressed a button on the side of her goggles and then zoomed in and could just barely make out the start of another cliff at end of the catwalk.

Catwoman figured that there was probably a ramp that was supposed to come out somehow…but then again maybe not. With his grappling hooks and ability to glide, he might not need one. Catwoman unclipped her whip, she climbed down that stupid cliff she wasn't about to turn back now. It was only ten feet away, if she timed it right she probably jump out far enough and snap whip out and wrap it around a support…maybe. Catwoman took several steps back for good measure, then took off running, took a giant leap snapped out her whip. At first she felt nothing and thought to herself, "aw crap" but a second later she practically had her arm ripped from its socket.

While still swing back and forth Catwoman climbed up her whip and pulled herself up onto the catwalk. She flopped onto her back and laid there for a moment to catch her breath and calm herself down. After a moment she gave herself a good shake and stood up. When she looked down the catwalk she could see the hint of light off in the distance. Cautiously she continued on to the ledge and on into the cave, the further she travelled the more certain she was that there was a light up ahead.

Within minutes of first spotting the light, she came to the end of the tunnel that turned into a vast cave and what spilled out before her floored her. To the one side the Batmobile stood on a round platform, there was display cases scattered all over the cave, on the opposite side of the cave a river rushed by far below and directly in front of her a huge display screen covered a wall with a bunch of machinery underneath it. And in front of the machinary was a tall chair.

She couldn't tell if there was someone sitting in that chair, but she decided to cautiously step into the light. She had managed to make up half the distance when the chair spun suddenly around, and up stood the Dark Knight himself cowl pulled off. He was too stunned by the sudden intrusion that he probably didn't think to put it back on.

"Hey, uh we need to talk."

In a couple quick large strides he closed the gap between them and loomed his whole mass over her. "How did you get in here undetected?" He demanded. Yup he was pissed, even bathed in light and no cowl on he was still VERY intimidating…in fact she was feeling very intimidated at the moment and she never did get that vibe off of him, ever.

"Its kinda what I do, er, I mean what I _used_ to do. I kinda put the pieces of puzzle together of who was the man behind the mask, after that it was pretty easy to figure out where you might hide your toys…although I didn't quite predict this."

He scowled at her a moment longer, then stepped back and crossed his arms over his broad chest. "Why did you feel the need to break in to here? Why not just knock on the front door, that" he nodded to the way she'd come in "must of taken some time and effort."

"Because I know you well enough, that you'd play the 'I'm a dumb playboy' card and laugh it off. And I don't have time for that."

He studied her some more, "what do you mean?"

"Well for one, I've been a very good kitty. I haven't stolen anything, I swear! And I swear I didn't even put on this suit on until I found out about that shop burning down, you know the one I told you about! It smelled fishy, so I started digging around. The more I dug to the more it stank. Actually I stumbled across someone the same day as I snuck into the warehouse where I stashed my suit, there was this Sorowski woman threatening the Penguin I didn't hear the whole conversation but it didn't sound like he was going to cooperate."

Bruce's expression changed from hostile to curious, "wait you said a woman who went by the name Sorowski?"

"Yes and that's not all. Last week Frankie, you know Rupert's head lackey…you know Frankie right?" He just nodded his head. "I happened to catch him leaving a strip club and I followed him to the airport, he picked up some big guy and he was seriously kissing his ass; anyways I lost them among the condo sky rises."

Bruce put up his hands "Slow down, I'm following you so far but you're talking quicker and quicker. You never ramble like this."

Catwoman sighed, "Sorry. I'm trying to get it out before you decide that you want to lock me up and throw away the key again."

"I'll at least hear you out first, continue."

"Hey don't even think of arresting me! I won't go down easily I didn't do anything wrong! I'm trying to help!"

"Selina! Continue!"

Man she wanted to hit him right now, but that would be very unwise. She let out another frustrated sigh, "I looked into the flight manifests to see if I could get any kind of a name…even a fake one, but it was as if the guy was never on the plane. Or even came through the airport! I did figure out which flight he had come in on and that it had came from Spain. After the guy arrived things changed drastically, I'm sure you've noticed that its gotten real quiet recently."

"Yes, it hasn't been this quiet in over twenty years."

"Wow really? Anyways I wasn't getting any where's until I got a sudden visit today."

Bruce tilted his head a bit and studied her, "from whom?"

"That Sorowski woman, Inna Sorowski is what she told me. They…whoever they are…wanted to hire me. She said that she didn't want me to steal anything, but they wanted me to break into some really high security place and 'deposit' something for them there."

"Did she tell you where?"

"No, she refused to give me anymore information. She wanted my word that I'd do it first. I told her I wanted to think about it. I told her to give me a day and I'd give her an answer tomorrow, she granted me that but pretty much told me she'd kill me if I didn't accept or tried to run a way."

"So why did you come to me?" He returned to his chair and started typing something into the keyboard in front of him.

"Because this is getting over my head, and I really am trying to change. I don't want to be the bad guy anymore. But I also can't stand to stay on the side lines. And I trust you…mostly, and I'm hoping you'll trust me. Besides they'll probably kill me either way."

His back was now to her so she couldn't see his face. She walked over to stand beside him, pulling her goggles off. He was in some sort of search engine, something that made Google look like some small time wannabe. He was searching Inna Sorowski, not a common name so you would think a small list would come up, but nothing came up. He leaned back in his chair and scratched his stubbly face then rubbed his forehead. He looked exhausted and stressed to the max. He looked up at her.

"So what do you plan on telling her?"

"Well considering how things have been going recently, I think I should take them up on it. Otherwise I'm gonna have to go to ground until you find away to take these people down and I'd rather not."

"That'd be wise." He stood up once again stalked off through another entrance and came back a moment later. "Give me your goggles."

She gave him a cautious look, "Just give them to me!" his tone was very curt. She slid them off her head and handed them to him. He looked them over for a moment then inserted something very thin into the strap.

"What was that?"

"I'll be able to trace you where ever you go now so long as you have these goggles with you. It doesn't give off a signal that they're machines will recognize, so they shouldn't be able to pick it up." He handed her something else. "This is a one way transmitter. This" he pointed to a tiny button on one side of what looked like a slim slider phone, "is a panic button if you need help just push it and I'll come. On this side," he flipped it over in her hand "if you press the button and speak into it, it'll record what you say and send it to me. So if there is no way for you to talk to me in person, you can send me whatever information you find. It only gives off a signal when you use it."

"Thanks for not locking me up. I'm not stupid enough to think you actually trust me…I've played that card one too many times but at least you're giving me a chance."

He just nodded and turned back to his chair. "You're not going to make me go out the way I came are you?"

He sighed, "I should, shouldn't I!" He ran his fingers through his as thought about how to let her out.

"Oh come on! I don't squeal! And I promise no more uninvited visits! Just get Alfred to give me a lift home!"

"Fine." He huffed, "give me a moment."

He walked back into the same room he had gone into before, this time though he was in there a while longer. When he came out, he was wearing a t-shirt and sweats…the guy looked good in anything didn't he.

He motioned her to follow as he walked past the display cases to a hidden set of stairs. They climbed the stairs and came to a dead end. Bruce placed his hand on the wall and a light flashed as it scanned his hand. The object that was blocking their path slid to the side and opened to a bright room. When she passed by the object she turned to see what had been a clock, as it slid back into place.

"Alfred?" He called.

Selina removed her cowl and pulled off her gloves as they left the room. They walked down some hallway, she had no idea where they were. He poked his head into a couple of rooms calling Alfred's name ever so often. They turned down another hall and Bruce knocked on a door before he opened it.

"Tim?" he frowned and walked into the room and looked at the clock on the wall and raised an eyebrow. "I had not realized how late it was. I guess that means I will be driving you home."

"What time is it?"

" It's nine."

"What!? You mean that took me five hours! Sheesh, no wonder I feel so exhausted." She put a hand on her forehead. "So where is everyone?"

"Tim doesn't have his drivers yet so Alfred drove him to his soccer meet."

"That sounds so…normal."

He just grunted and left the room and continued in the opposite direction, they eventually passed a stairwell that she actually recognized; they were somewhere near the front of the house. They eventually came to a huge set of elegant double doors. He opened them both as he entered and marched in. Evidently it was the Master bedroom…his bedroom. She stopped at the threshold as he marched to what looked like a huge walk in closet. When he came back out he was wearing a long sleeve t-shirt and blue jeans and two jackets slung over his arm. He tossed her one and slipped into the other.

"You can keep that one if you want; I have no need for it." He walked passed her and headed for the stairs.

"Uh, why do you have a ladies jacket in your closet?"

"I had bought it for a girlfriend a while back, but we broke up before I could give it to her." He had already made it to the stairs.

"That must have been quite a while ago, from what I understand you haven't what one would consider a girlfriend since you and Harvey…" She stopped when he looked back at her glaring. Ok…touchy subject. She made a motion as if she was zipping her lips and he stepped of the last step and took a sharp right and passed through another door. She wondered what he didn't like her discussing the no girlfriend thing or Harvey, she was pretty sure she had said something about Harvey before and he hadn't reacted then and she just couldn't see him caring if she talked about his lack of a girlfriend…he must just be plain old cranky.

Selina stopped the moment stepped through the door, it was his 'garage' she still couldn't believe how many cars this guys had. He walked over to box hanging on the wall close to the door and pressed his thumb to a corner and after a second it clicked open.

"Do you have preference?" He asked nodding towards the cars. Selina surveyed the cars in front of her closer to the front of the garage was a pretty blue Aston Martin. She pointed to it, "That one."

"Vanquish it is, good choice." He grabbed a pair of key off a peg and closed the box. "Alright hop in."

"Can I drive?"

"No."

Selina pouted as she climbed in the passenger side.

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Thanks again everyone, sorry that I'm taking so long in between chapters! R&R


	13. Chapter 12

Hey all, I managed to get this one out quick! I'm so proud of myself! I'm getting into it again! Hopefully I'll have another chapter for you in the next couple days!

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the DC world

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The trip home had been a very quiet one. Selina had tried a couple times to get him into a conversation but the most she got out of him was a some grunts…apparently still in the 'Batman mode', or just too tired to say anything more. They finally reached her street, Selina sighed, happy to be home. The whole way Bruce had been doing speed limit, which was highly unusual for him. It didn't seem to matter what time of the year it was, Bruce was speeding.

When he finally came to a stop in front of her building, she turned to him. "Bruce, why don't you come inside? I'll make you some coffee maybe I'll even feel generous enough to make you breakfast…unless you've eaten already."

Finally he sighed and looked at her, "No I haven't."

"Great then its settled! Come on! I'm sure Isis will be happy to see you too!" Selina opened the door and waited for him to turn off the car. When he finally did she got out. Despite his exhaustion he moved as if he had all the energy in the world, she half expected him to drag his feet and slowly follow. Unlike most days, Selina opted for the elevator today due to her own exhaustion. They rode it up to her floor in a somewhat awkward silence. Now that the cat was out of the bag, she suddenly remembered the last time they were in an elevator together. That seemed like a lifetime ago, in some ways it had been; things had changed so much since then.

The elevator dinged and opened up to her floor. They walked to apartment in continued silence, when she opened the door Bruce immediately went for her couch and flopped onto his back. Selina went to her room and changed out of her outfit into a more normal t-shirt and sweats. After changing and freshening herself up somewhat, she went to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee.

"What do you want for breakfast, Bruce?" she said when she went back into the living room. When she reached the couch she couldn't help but smile. Isis had made herself at home curled up in a ball purring on Bruce's stomach; Bruce had one arm over his face and the other hand resting on Isis' back.

"…pancakes…" he mumbled, "…and eggs…and bacon…and"

"Ok, I get it! You want the works!" Selina turned and headed back to the kitchen. Selina started breakfast, after she had started everything she peeked around the corner. Bruce was still lying on his back with his arm over his face and a cat on his stomach and she was pretty sure he was now asleep. His breathing was now deeper and slower and his whole body looked relaxed. Selina walked over to the curtains in her living room and quietly pulled them shut. She'd let him catch a few Z's while she cooked breakfast, he probably need as much as he could get.

Quite frankly she was flattered that he trusted her enough to fall asleep in front of her. She figured that he had now put in the category of enemy again, and he would never let his guard down in front of an enemy; no matter how tired he was.

Selina returned to the kitchen and finished making breakfast. When it was all done, she made him a heaping plate and a big cup of coffee and set them on the table. She reopened the curtains and walked over to the couch. Both cat and man were still napping quietly together, so she picked Isis off of Bruce and she protested greatly when she was put on the ground.

"Bruce, wake up Bruce." Selina gently shook his shoulder.

"Hmm?" he said as he rubbed his face.

Selina chuckled, "Your breakfast is ready! It's going to get cold! And I'm not going to let all that food and hard work go to waste!"

Bruce sat up and stretched, "Sorry, I did not mean to fade out on you like that." With even just a twenty minute nap, he was starting to sound more Bruce-like. He stood up and followed her to the table and took a seat at the table. Selina grabbed a cup of Orange juice and some pancakes and bacon and sat across from Bruce. For a while they sat in another awkward silence, after a while though, Selina had to ask what was on her mind.

"Are you mad at me Bruce? Do you hate me?" She kept her eyes glued to her food.

He remained silent for a moment, and then answered "No, neither. I may be irritated, but that's all. I did honestly think you might last longer then you have before returning to Catwoman, considering your longest streak is two years. I do believe you, that you are not stealing or committing any crimes…well technically speaking you are just by wearing that outfit. I also believe that you are just trying to help. It's the way you are built Selina."

"Ok, so you aren't mad. So where exactly do I stand with you then?"

Bruce sighed and rubbed his head, "I honestly do not know right now Selina. I need time to process everything, ask me when all of this is over…if it is ever over."

"Hey, don't be like that! You're the 'I will win at all costs' kind of guy. Don't start wavering now, if you do this city is screwed!" She was now studying him.

"I'm sorry, I know. I am just really tired right now. I just seem to be spinning my wheels not getting anywhere's right now…and I do not always win."

"Well hopefully I'll be able to help you with some new intel." Selina finished up her breakfast and gathered up her dirty dishes. She walked into the kitchen and deposited them into the dishwasher. She returned to the table and sat down again as Bruce continued to eat.

"Be careful," he said after swallowing his mouthful. "These are extremely dangerous people! They are highly volatile and have no qualms about killing you if they think there is something fishy about you. They do not need proof, just a feeling."

"Yah I kinda got that from talking to that woman and you know I've dealt with plenty of dangerous people in my life. And luckily for me, I've got you on my side now! Right?"

Bruce smirked a bit, "As long as you behave, you will have my help. Well I suppose you would still have my help even if you did misbehave, you would just end up in Arkham in the end." Bruce stuffed the last of his breakfast in his mouth and gulped down the last of his coffee.

Selina just sat there silently, that's twice today she's been threaten…she really didn't like being threatened. Bruce came around the table, gave her a kiss on the cheek and headed for the door. He turned back to her as he reached for the door knob.

"I better get back; Alfred will be home soon and wonder where I am. Thank you for the food, Selina. You are a surprisingly good cook. Bye!"

He smiled cheekily as he left. How could that man do that? Only hours ago he was tired and crabby as she's ever seen him and looking like he might beat the crap out of her, to being a cheeky smart ass and happy. Selina shook her head and cleaned up his dishes. Selina was so tired but she figured she should probably take a shower wash off all that sweat and dirt. Once clean, she didn't even bother getting dressed. She just walked to her bed fell on it and passed out.

Something woke Selina up; she wasn't sure what it was. She lifted her head and looked out of the window; the sun had begun to set. She looked at her alarm clock it said seven. Suddenly she did a double take at the window, it was open…she didn't remember opening it. Boy that breeze was chilly. Suddenly it dawned on Selina that she was bare naked, that when she heard somebody clear their throat.

Selina quickly rolled off her bed and jumped to her feet, bringing the blanket with her, and faced the intruder. It was Batman…of course it was him! Isis would've been freaking out if it had been anyone else. Selina could've sworn that Isis had been a guard dog in another life; she liked to attack unannounced strangers. But at the moment she was vigorously rubbing Batman's legs and purring loudly.

Selina picked up the nearest shoe and hurled it as hard as she could at him and of course he dodged it; which made her even more frustrated at him. "Stop doing that, coming in here unannounced!"

Batman just stood there with a big ole' cocky smile obviously pleased with something. "You do that on purpose don't you! Waiting for me to be naked or half naked, then you decide it's a perfect time to go scare the crap out of Selina and have a non-conversation.

"I never plan it that way; you just seem to walk around your apartment that way a lot lately. And I did come to talk. I thought you might be awake by now."

Selina huffed and threw another one of her shoes at him, which he dodged…again! She walked over to her dresser and pulled out a pair of clothes, dropped the blanket and put them on. She then walked over to him and smacked him as hard as she could in the chest.

"You're very infuriating you know that!"

"Yes I do. I have been told that many times. Are you done venting on me now, or should I come back later for a mature conversation?"

"What do you want?" She growled...wow she thought to herself, she sounded so grumpy! That was very unlike her.

"I want as much of the information as you can give that you have collected, no matter how small and unimportant as it seems."

"Fine." Selina walked out into her living room. She walked over to her desk that had a pile of work related research scattered across it. Beside it on the wall there was a reproduction of Gerhard Marcks Cats, Selina lifted it up and behind it sat a reasonably high-tech vault. She opened it up and pulled out the papers she had stored inside.

"Here's all that I've collected. It really isn't a lot there, I don't think it'll help but have at er." She said as she handed them to him.

"What time are you meeting Sorowski?"

"Well I'm suppose to meet her at three but I'm gonna be there much sooner and scope around the area and make sure they don't ambush me." Selina closed the vault and returned the picture to the wall.

"That would be wise. Be careful, Selina! I mean it. Do not forget those items I gave you."

"Huh, are you actually worried about me?"

Batman crossed his arms, "Of course. I might be an insufferable ass, but I am not an unfeeling one."

"You are certainly a _pain in the ass_ but not an ass…if that makes any sense."

Batman smirked, "Thanks I guess. You do realize that you are probably not going to make it too work for a couple of days, right?"

Selina was silent for a moment. "Crap, I guess I'll just take a sick week or something." Isis tapped Selina on the leg and mewed, "Are you hungry Isis?" Selina said looking down at her. When she looked up again, Batman was gone. She sighed and looked down at Isis again. "Well let's get us some chow, shall we?" Selina walked off towards the kitchen.

Two hours later, Catwoman was out on the streets again. She felt a little better about herself now. She hadn't realized it, but this whole time she's been worried about getting caught by the bat but now that he knew, she had nothing to worry about as long as she was helping people.

Like she did every night, Catwoman randomly started scouring the streets looking for random crimes. After a few hours of that she moved on to digging for more information on her mystery man and like every night there was nothing. As time started approaching two, Catwoman headed off to the meeting place. Once there she started scouring the rooftop for cameras or some other types of spy devices and found none. There was only one way to the top of this building and it was through the stair well…unless you had a helicopter, or climbed up the side of buildings like her; but she'd see the both of those coming.

After her search, Catwoman hunkered down at the best vantage point she could find and waited for Sorowski to arrive. After twenty minutes of no activity Catwoman started to get cold. It was now November and winter was starting to set in, there had even been a couple of nights where she'd seen a few flakes of snow falling. Right now she was wishing for a jacket…or a cape might be beneficial right about now.

Just after 2:30 some men appeared on the rooftop, Catwoman did her best to keep herself invisible. They walked around the roof as if they were looking for something, probably doing the exact same thing as she did but criminal's had this nasty tendency to not look up. That's why both she and Gotham's vigilantes tended to be able to sneak up on them so easily. Oh well, it made her life a lot easier.

After about five minutes all but two men disappeared down the stairwell again. Ten minutes later Sorowski arrived on the scene, Catwoman envied how warm she looked. Sorowski went and stood in the approximate centre of the building and faced the stairs. Behind her the two men that had stayed behind went and stood at either side of her. Catwoman shook her head, typical.

It was time to even the odds. Catwoman rubbed her arms and legs a bit to get the blood circulating again, then slid off her perch and snuck around behind the trio. She got as close as she could then leapt as high as she could manage and struck out with a knee and an elbow as hard as she could. She managed to hit both targets in the back of the head rendering them unconscious, and landing gracefully on her feet. Catwoman quickly did a backward flip behind a vent incase Sorowski was armed and turned around guns blazing.

When Sorowski turned around she indeed had a gun raised but she did not fire it. "That was unwise Catwoman."

"Hey you can't blame a girl for wanting to even her odds a little." Catwoman said from behind her cover, "I wasn't trying to make enemies, just leveling the playing field a bit."

Sorowski was silent a moment, then holstered her weapon again. "Does that mean you've accepted my offer?"

Catwoman cautiously stood up. "Depends on what I get out of it."

Sorowski sneered at her, "I don't know whether you are brave or just really stupid. How does three million and your criminal record completely cleared sound? We could even wipe your identity from existence if that's what you want."

Catwoman pretended to think about it for a moment, "Alright that's passable…for now. Now tell me exactly what do you want from me."

"Not here, follow me."

Sorowski headed for the door, expecting Catwoman to follow. As she reached the door, she could hear the two men she'd just knocked out groaning as they slowly started to regain consciousness…apparently she hadn't hit them hard enough. She followed after Sorowski down a flight of stairs and then into an elevator that brought them down to the main floor. They exited the building and approached a car. A big man in a suit stopped her before she entered the car and patted her down, enjoying himself way too much. What did he expect to find on a woman dressed up in a skintight leather suit that left nothing to the imagination. Unfortunately they confiscated her whip but fortunately they took nothing else.

Finally they let her get into the car. As they drove they twisted and turned through the streets taking the very long way around to where ever they were going…maybe trying to lose a tail, or just in case they had a tail; either way they were being very cautious. They drove for about forty five minutes before they came to a stop in front of an old mansion…she knew this mansion, she'd robbed it like three times.

Last she heard the original owners had sold it, apparently these fools picked it up. The security system may not be the same but the floor plan was probably similar and that may be to her benefit if she needed to get out quickly. They came to a stop at the front door and the driver came around and opened the door.

Sorowski exited the car and went up the steps and entered the house. She never once looked back to see if Catwoman was following…that was awfully arrogant of her. Reluctantly Catwoman followed her into the house; they then turn right into the first of many living rooms. Sorowski motioned her to sit on a couch in the middle of the room, which she did. Sorowski walked over to a desk in the back corner and picked an IPad off of it and then sat down next to Catwoman.

While Sorowski tapped away at IPad, Catwoman looked at the surroundings. With the exception of the furniture, this room looked exactly as she had last seen it but this was just one room; that didn't mean the rest where the same. Finally Sorowski handed over the IPad to Catwoman.

"This is what we want you to break into."

Catwoman looked at the screen and then proceeded to nearly fall off the couch when she saw the picture. They wanted her to break in to the Justice League stronghold!

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So let me know what you think as always! Thanks everyone!


	14. Chapter 13

I AM SO SORRY! I've been slowly pecking away with this chapter for quite some time now, but got a little stuck with the direction in which I wanted to go. I think I've got it figured it out mostly what I want to do, but over the last several chapters I've been winging it. Just writing with no real certainty with what I wanted. But I think I'm working it out now. Wow its been almost a year since I last updated, I feel like an awful person. I hate it when I get into a story and really like then the author doesn't finish it and yet here I am doing exact same thing…I swear I'll get it done…eventually...

Thanks to DocBon3saw for the kick in the pants to update and many others who continue to read! Oh and joti52887 I'm a dudette...just for future references...lol

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of the DC world.

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"You do realize this place is in space right? It's not like I can just waltz up to it!" Catwoman continued to gawk at the picture on the IPad in front of her.

"Yes we are aware of that, and we have the solution for you. Money is no object for my employer; he had a small one person craft created that will get you into space and docked at the station undetected by anyone."

"Ok, do you have the floor plan and security schematics for me?"

Sorowski took the IPad from her and started tapping away at it again, when she was done she handed it back to her. Catwoman looked it over, it was pretty simple; if you could get past the external sensors and security measures it was a cake walk. "You needed me for this?" Catwoman said as she gestured to schematic on the IPad in her hand. "Any burglar worth their salt could do this!"

"Then this should be some quick and easy cash for you. But it's not the security measures we are worried about, more the occupants and your ability to avoid them undetected."

"So what am I _dropping off_?"

"This." Sorowski handed her an USB stick. "You are to upload this into the computer and the program will do the rest. I would advise you to get to your craft within five minutes or you won't be leaving at all. Be advised, all but Batman and the Martian Manhunter will be there."

"So tread carefully, huh. When are we doing this?"

Sorowski stood up, "Come with me."

"Wait, do you think I could take a pee first? I'd rather not be doing this with a full bladder; it makes it hard to concentrate when all you can think about is holding it."

Sorowski glared at her then turned to a guard, "show her to a washroom."

"Yes ma'am." He turned to Catwoman, "this way miss."

"Thanks handsome." Catwoman said with a wink.

She was pretty sure she saw a smirk forming when he turned away. He led her down a couple of halls until they reached said bathroom, she had predicted they would bring her to this one. It was pretty much smack dab in the middle of the house and had no windows or vents for her to escape from, not that she was planning too. Once she locked the door she dug out the thin device from her belt. As they entered the house she had sneakily pressed the record button and hoped that it had caught that whole conversion.

"Just in case you missed all that," she whispered "they want me to break into the Justice League tower. Sorowski gave me a USB stick and she wants me to upload it into their computer. Apparently this guy is wealthy and had some sort of one person craft built to bypass the Justice League security systems and let me land. I think they want me to leave immediately. Wish me luck." Catwoman turned off the recorder; it then blinked a couple times then stopped. She assumed it meant that it'd sent her message.

Catwoman flushed the toilet and left the bathroom. The guard smiled at her, then turned and led her back to Sorowski who was now tapping her foot impatiently. "Are you done?"

Catwoman smiled, feeling pleased to annoy this woman. "Yes." Sorowski turned and marched down a different hall, this hall was a little more direct. Selina knew it would eventually lead them to the back yard, when they did reach the back yard they continued to go outside. The sun hadn't yet begun to rise but you could see it starting to get lighter. They continued to what used to be the pool house, but once she was inside there was nothing but concrete walls. Sorowski walked directly to the wall on the opposite side and place her hand on it, apparently there was a palm scanner hidden there, a moment later a slab of floor slid to the side and revealed a stair case beneath.

Sorowski started descending the stairs and Catwoman followed after her. The staircase was long, long enough that they could have installed an elevator. When they reached the bottom they entered into an even bigger square concrete room. The front half of the room was filled computers and desks as well as other types of workstations. The back half was empty except for what looked like a helicopter landing pad and an eight by four foot craft that reminded Catwoman of a coffin, sitting in the center.

Catwoman pointed to the craft, "So that's my ride?"

"Yes." Sorowski said as she impatiently waved one of the scientists over. A short balding man scampered over. "Tell Catwoman what she needs to know about this thing."

"Yes ma'am, this if way you please Catwoman." The man was obviously very nervous, whether due to Sorowski or her she didn't know but she suspected that it might be both. She followed the little man up to the craft.

Batman sat in front of his computer reviewing the information Selina had given him. She had been correct when she told him there wasn't much there to help him. He found the whole arrival of this mystery man fascinating, like Selina had pointed out; the day after he had arrived was when the mafia had gone quiet along with several other high standing criminals of Gotham's underworld. One thing the information did provide was a nice clear list of all who was woven into this scheme.

This was starting to smell more and more rotten every day. Batman was starting to suspect that this wasn't just about Gotham . Batman decided to look at something else, and what he found was a bit alarming. In many major cities across America there was a familiar pattern.

That was when he got to the message from Catwoman. Upon listening to it, things were starting to get clearer. It wasn't just Gotham like he was starting to suspect but at the very least, it was an attack on the United States if not possibly the world…why else would they be concerned about the Justice League? The only thing was he still didn't know was who was coordinating the attack.

Batman looked at the time, the message had been sent twenty minutes ago. Assuming the information Catwoman had given him, no one would be able to detect a ship leaving the atmosphere; he needed to get to the tower before they did…also undetected. It was time to try out the new cloaking device he'd install sometime ago and see if it worked.

He stood up pressing a button on his console as he turned and headed towards the Batmobile. The platform it sat on began to move to one side and then down, moments later a longer and wider platform emerged carrying the Batplane. Batman left a quick message for Nightwing, then walked over to the plane and climbed up on to the wing. Batman knelt down and pressed the well concealed switch that released the hatch door.

Once inside Batman fired up the Batplane and tore out of the cave. Once out, he turned on the cloaking device and turned up towards the JL tower. It didn't take him long to get there, the Batplane was faster than any fighter jet on the planet…Batman loved to fly it, though he seldom had reason too.

Nothing had come up on his radar on the way up but that didn't mean he hadn't passed the ship on the way up. The tower also didn't register any recent arrivals or departures either but that also meant nothing. Batman had his own hangar on the other side of the tower that wasn't on any schematics that only he had the access codes for…designing this place had its advantages.

Once he had landed softly inside the bay, he jumped out of his craft and quietly approached the door that led into the interior of the Tower. This early in the morning it was likely that whoever was on the station was still asleep. Quietly he worked his way through the halls avoiding as many security cameras as possible just in case they had been hacked. If they had hacked the signal, they would only have another eight minutes max of camera time. The towers cameras were designed to switch surveillance channels every eight minutes and randomly select a new channel.

It took him about five minutes to make it from his private bay to the other docking bay. In the bay sat the Justice League jet...he preferred his personal jet over this beast. Reaching up he touched the side of his cowl and touched a button that was built in to his cowl and cycled through the different spectrums until he found the one he was looking for. He surveyed the room looking for electronic signatures or heat signatures that any device at this distance would give off, he didn't pick up anything.

Batman decided to perch on the back of the JL's jet at a vantage point the hopefully left him out of the line of sight in case the wired Catwoman up with some camera's. This was very unlikely, neither the ship or on Catwoman; it just left too great a chance of possibly being detected by the towers sensors, but he'd rather be safe than sorry.

Catwoman let out a sigh of relief when the ship finally touched down inside the tower's hangar. She had never been afraid of flying nor has she ever been claustrophobic, but being cramped into this tiny little ship with no controls what so ever made her feel just a little bit uncomfortable. As soon as the ship touched down, she looked out the window into the bay and when she thought all was clear she popped the hatch and climbed out.

Catwoman stretched out the kinks in her stiff body and glanced around to get herself oriented. She wondered if Batman had gotten her message and if he did, what was he going to do about it? Catwoman wasn't too concerned about whether there was going to be any security camera's in the hangar, if there was the ship was supposed to freeze any camera within the room. Throughout the rest of the ship she'd be on her own…but that'd be easy.

Catwoman spotted the door that led to the hall and for a second considered using it. Then she looked up above the door where there was a ventilation shaft that fed the ship the oxygen into the tower that the occupants needed, it'd be an awful tight fit…hopefully she hasn't add any inches to her waist line or else this would be a very short job, with an embarrassing end. She walked over to the door and uncurled her whip; suddenly a chill ran down her back. She whirled around swinging her whip with her and cracking it in the direction she'd sensed her opponent coming from.

Good thing Batman had such quick reflexes because she would've caught him square in the face. Instead he caught its end and gave her a _'why did you do that?_' kind of look. She let out an annoyed huff and jerked her whip out of his hand.

"You shouldn't sneak up on a girl like that!"

"Maybe you should pay closer attention to your surroundings." Batman's body disappeared beneath his cape as he pulled its ends forward.

Catwoman was really tempted to give some witty retort, but decided to cut to the chase. "So I assume you got my message since you are here."

"Yes, let me see that USB stick they gave you."

Catwoman pulled the USB stick out and handed it over. "I'm assuming that when it's uploaded, it'll make the tower self-destruct. They told me that'd it would be wise to get off within 5 minutes of it uploading or I wouldn't be getting off."

"Well if that is the case then their plan would partially fail, Superman would survive. On top of that there would still be J'onn, even if just one of them survives it could still mean the end to whatever their plans are."

"They knew that the Martian guy wouldn't be here so I'm assuming that they may have plans for him and for you too. They mentioned that you wouldn't be here either. As for Superman, well for all I know maybe the rigged it somehow that he would somehow die in the blast too."

"Maybe" Batman pulled something from his tool belt and inserted the USB into it.

"Aren't there programs out there that will tell its owner if it's being access by an unauthorized party?" Catwoman said as she walked over to stand beside him as she coiled her whip back up in her hand.

"Yes, this device has a program that will prevent that as well as preventing the program from deleting itself. I'm hoping that it will tell me what this USB device will do."

"And then what? What's our next step?"

"Ideally I can figure out who created this program, and then hopefully that will tell me who or what we are dealing with. Do you know if they have hacked the towers security cameras?"

"No I don't think so. They did somehow get the schematics for this place though." Catwoman looked up into his face but he was deep in thought. After a moment he met her gaze.

"Come with me, this maybe too big for just me too handle." Batman turned and walked to the door.

"Too big for _you_? I'm shocked!" Catwoman said her voice dripping with sarcasm as she followed after him.

"Laugh all you want, but even I know my limitations. I just push them as far as I can bend them, you should know all about that."

"Heh, yah I suppose. So what makes this past your means?" Catwoman continued to follow him as he progressed down the hall at a brisk pace.

"A man by the name of Miroslav Volkov is the creator of this virus. Volkov is a known associate of the Injustice League." Batman passed through a large set of sliding door that let into a large atrium. Catwoman looked around her as she continued to follow him as he made straight toward a large computer that resemble the one he had at the bat cave. Most of the outer wall taken up by the oversized machine and behind it was a wall of glass with most breath-taking view of the earth. There was two chairs sitting in front the computer sitting about six feet apart, the rest of the room was mostly bare with the exception of a large conference type table in the centre of the room.

"The _Injustice League_ huh, how original."

Batman looked back at her, "You've never heard of them?" He seemed genuinely shocked.

Catwoman folded her arms over her chest, "Hey I was just a lowly thief, a thief who preferred to go solo. Why would I wanna join something as stupid as that?"

"I didn't think you would have interest in joining it but I thought you would at least have heard of it. The Joker joins their ranks ever so often…when he gets bored." Batman took a seat and inserted his device into the computer with the USB stick still inserted.

"That right there is a really good reason why I would never join; Joker and I hate each other. I wouldn't help him with ANYTHING! I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual. I just didn't walk the same circles as those psycho's. I'm not psychotic just eccentric…are you listening to me?"

Batman was leaning forward on his elbows studying one of the many screens. "You're eccentric, I heard you."

Suddenly someone was firmly gripping her arm; Catwoman's first instinct was wheeler around claws extended swipe at her attacker. Her claws made contact with her attacker but he didn't let go, instead he grabbed her wrist and twisted it in a painful direction. Catwoman let out a cry as the pain shot up her arm.

Batman turned his chair to face them. "Let her go Green Lantern, she's with me."

"The stupid manx scratched me!?" He protested.

"You grabbed her first, she was just defending herself. You'd do something similar if someone snuck on you, would you not? Now let her go."

"Fine." When he finally released Catwoman she backed up and hissed at him as she rubbed her wrist, feeling a little better when she saw the nasty mark she'd left on his cheek.

Green Lantern dabbed his face a couple times with his fingers where Catwoman had cut him then looked at the blood on his fingers. "That better not scar!" He said as he looked up to glare at her.

"Serves you right, pretty boy." Catwoman crossed her arms over her chest again and glared back at him.

Batman just sighed and turned around and continued his analysis of the screen. Green Lantern came to stand on the other side of Batman to see what he was studying.

"Who is SHE and what are you doing?"

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So what does everyone think? Do you like where I'm going with the story? Let me know what you think!


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